In the Eye of the Beholder
by HopeGale
Summary: Lydia White is new to the small city of Quartz, having had to move there due to her dad's new job. When people start disappearing into the nearby woods, the ones that come back have an insatiable need to stare at their own reflection. With the power of Persona, Lydia and her new friends delve into this mystery. Set in the Western world!
1. Chapter 1

**August 22, 2015 – Saturday, Afternoon - Sunny**

They had been traveling for what felt like several days to arrive at their destination, and only now were they approaching it.

A teenage girl with short, light brown hair sat looking out the windows of her family's van, which was following a moving truck filled with all of their things. She yawned, watching the grassy countryside pass her by as they moved ever closer to their new home. After this, it would be likely that she would consider herself to have seen enough ranches and little towns for an entire year. Her father had said that once they got used to the new surroundings, that they'd love the place. His new job had been the whole reason they'd left their original home, anyways.

It was beginning to bore her so much that she was falling asleep, and considering that they were still hours away from Quartz, a small city named for the abundance of the eponymous rock, it would be to her benefit to catch some Zs. She leaned back in her seat and tried her best to maintain a comfortable position; thankfully her younger brother was content with watching a movie on his portable video player and hadn't bothered her in the last thirty minutes.

Her eyes fluttered as she let sleep begin to take her away, and for a moment caught a glimpse of a white object that had appeared upon the window. It gave off the appearance of a butterfly, which had somehow managed to keep its footing on the glass as the van rolled along the highway at seventy-five miles an hour. She blinked rapidly and saw the unusual white insect disappear almost as quickly as it had appeared.

 _I must be imagining things, that's how bored I am now. Still, why would I see a butterfly of all things? Who knows..._

She let herself fall into the realm of the unconscious, hoping to return at the point of her destination.

However, where she landed was not the outskirts of Quartz, but instead in a black void where she stood alone, a spotlight cast on her. She couldn't remember ever having a dream where she was alone in a world of darkness, and wondered what would happen to her. She began walking through the void, the spotlight following her as she went along. She looked around and saw nothing, turning all around to see that there was clearly not another soul in-

"Hello." She found herself looking at a strange man, who also had a spotlight shining down on him. He was dressed as if he was going to a masquerade, wearing a well-tailored black-and-white suit and a black mask with a butterfly motif, the butterfly resembling the white butterfly she had seen before falling asleep.

"Can you tell me who you are? What is your name?" His voice was calm and pleasant, as if he was speaking to an old friend that he hadn't seen in a long time. The girl looked into his eyes, which possessed a brown shade that reminded her of her own irises, and was able to speak her name to him.

"Lydia. Lydia White." At this, the man nodded in approval, closing his eyes for a moment as if to think of his next words.

"Yes. Lydia. That's right. You were able to remember your name... there are not many who are able to when I come to them like this. Since you have given me your name, I will now give you mine. I am Philemon, a dweller of the realm between the conscious and the unconscious, and the one who exists as the goodness of all souls."

Around Philemon, the world suddenly flickered to life, as if someone was turning on a TV channel and the void had been the previously blank screen. Lydia identified the place as a river, where a boy and a girl sat facing it and a raft floating on top of it, tied to a pier. Huge masses of rock were in front of them and to their sides, denoting the place as some kind of canyon.

"What? What is this? This is..." She trailed off. She recognized this place, as well as the boy and girl that were sitting a few yards away from where she stood. She could only see them from behind, but the pink jacket that the girl was wearing used to be something she herself had worn – but had gotten rid of since she'd outgrown it. If that was supposed to be a younger version of her, then _that_ meant the boy was-

"Alex?" She spoke, wondering if her younger self and the boy could hear her. Before she could absorb anything more about the scene, it flickered again, showing a different area downriver, where the water was swiftly flowing, frothing with multiple whitecaps and was dashed against multiple large rocks. The girl was hunched over by the side of the river, soaking wet and sobbing, and the boy and raft were nowhere to be found. Lydia shivered, instantly recognizing the scene.

"Why are you _showing_ me this?!" She cried, turning away and closing her eyes. After a few seconds, she felt the ground rumble underneath her, and opened her eyes to see that the world around her was changing again – and now she and Philemon were in the midst of a vast, open valley, dotted with hundreds upon hundreds of milky white quartz deposits. The sky was blue and completely clear, with a midday sun beaming down on them both. She whirled around to ask the man with the butterfly mask what exactly was going on, what was his purpose for bringing her here and showing her all these strange things, when he surveyed his surroundings and nodded, acknowledging something Lydia had no clue about.

"So, this is how it shall be? Very well."

"Answer me! Philemon? What is going on?" His eyes settled on Lydia.

"Lydia, I have foreseen the future, and have come to tell you that this next year will be a trial for you. At the place you are going to, you will come across an ordeal set in motion by those who would desire humanity's undoing. This place we are in now will be the battleground upon which the fate of all will be decided, and you will be swept up in it and made to choose between yourself or the person you think you should become. I am here to grant to you the power you will need in order to overcome your trial. If you would give me your hands?" She was sure she had never seen this man before in her life, and yet she couldn't deny that he somehow felt familiar to her, as if he was a long-lost friend.

"Why do I have to be involved? Is it really... fate? I can't escape it?"

"You are free to do as you wish. You may go your own way... but then you will have to face yourself alone. In that case, it is very possible you will never find the healing you seek for your loss." Lydia blinked. She looked into Philemon's eyes once again, and saw her own sorrow reflected back at her. She felt there _was_ a reason she had been shown those memories she would have preferred to bury forever; what this strangely benevolent person was offering her was some kind of solace, a way to finally move on. Somehow, Philemon understood her pain. She didn't understand _how,_ but something in her was secure with trusting him.

"Okay. Then... here." She extended her hands out to him. He took her hands in his own, and he said:

"In you I bestow the power of the Beholder, whose perceptions are capable of determining the future. I grant you the ability to fashion pure and unblemished ideals, such that by your will, you will play a part in writing the destiny of man." He let go of her hands, and smiled at her.

"When you arrive at your destination, you will meet with a servant of mine in the same way you have met me. I know you have many questions, Lydia, but do not worry. You will find your answers when they are ready to find you." Philemon turned away from her, looking at a point in the distance that she could not see. His body began to glow white and to waver, as if it was about to fade away. The valley began to fall to pieces around them, the sun being blown out like a candle and all the rocks within it turned to dust, all the blades of grass all being blown away by the wind. They were left in the black void, the light from Philemon's body the only illumination in the darkness.

"Know that I am you, and you are me. I will always be with you, watching over from within. We will see each other again..." As he spoke those last words, his body dissolved into many white butterflies flying through and past Lydia, imbuing her with a similar white light – with his butterfly mask the last thing to disappear.

Lydia woke up calmly, rested as if she'd been sleeping the rest of the day. She half-expected for it to be nighttime already, but looking outside the window revealed that the sun was beginning to set, bathing nature in its orange tones. She looked forward and saw that her mother was looking back at her, smiling.

"Did you have a good nap?" She asked.

"Y-Yeah. Are we almost there?"

"Uh, _yeah!_ Look, you can see the buildings and everything from here!" Her brother had finished watching his movie and had put away the video player, and was now pointing to a sign that denoted the city limits of Quartz, Texas, with a population of 85,199. The sign flew by as Lydia noticed the landscapes of her new home come into focus. Suburbs and named streets began to appear, with other cars coming and going to indicate the trappings of civilization.

 _That was one incredible dream. I've never had anything so vivid and clear before – it's like it's been perfectly preserved in my mind. Well, looks like my nap did its job; I skipped the last few hours of this really boring road trip._

"We're heading to Peter Street. The house isn't too far from your new school, so you shouldn't have to drive very far." Speaking of driving, for some inscrutable reason her parents had decided to drop her car off at the new house _before_ bringing her over, instead of doing both at the same time. Now that she had her driver's license, she was expected to bring her younger brother Gerald to and from school, as well as negotiating with him as to how much he could use her as a chauffeur since he was only going to be a freshman this year.

The moving truck parked beside the curb, whereas the family van parked in the driveway behind Lydia's car. The rest of the day was spent unloading what they could from the truck, boxes upon boxes that filled the open spaces of their new house.

 **Saturday, Evening - Clear**

Before she knew it, it was almost midnight and Lydia was laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling of her new room. This had to have been the best part so far of this whole moving thing – having a room all to herself. Her old house was much smaller, forcing her parents to put both of their children in the same room.

There was still one more day before school started. Tomorrow was a Sunday; many families would go to church at some point during the day, but Lydia's family had never been all that religious, so to them, it was just another day. Most of the day would probably be spent unpacking all those boxes, as well as arranging the new furniture that had been set up ahead of their arrival.

Her mind wandered to that dream that she had on the way over; even though she'd been preoccupied with helping unpack, recalling exactly what happened in that dream was easier than she expected, with every word and action being clear as crystal to her. She wondered about what Philemon had told her, that this upcoming year was going to be a trial for her and that she would have to "face herself". Was he talking about her new school? Maybe that's what the whole "power of the Beholder" stuff was about – high school was a breeding ground for rumors and self-image issues, for sure. Her mind was likely just trying to help her get used to the changes by giving her that kind of dream.

Still... the man with the butterfly mask had also said she'd meet a servant of his in her dreams, too. Would he have some kind of caterpillar mask, maybe? That made sense for a servant of Philemon, at least to her.

"I guess I'll find out soon enough." She mumbled to herself as she turned over, giving herself up to the realm of the unconscious once more.

* * *

 **August 23, 2015 – Sunday, Morning – Sunny**

Lydia's room was on the second floor of the house, with a window overlooking Peter Street. Even with the boxes still scattered about, she felt like a queen now that she had her own domain to rule over. Her own closet, her own TV, her own place to do whatever she wanted. Well, maybe not _whatever,_ but after years of having to get changed in the bathroom, this was a welcome change. She looked out the window that was next to her bed to see that she had a pretty good view of the street, with the sunlight not being intrusive or anything.

 _I thought that maybe I would've had another one of those crazy dreams. I guess maybe it was just a one-time thing._

She heard a knocking on the door as she changed clothes.

"Get changed and come downstairs! We need you to help with moving the furniture." Her mother's voice sounded from the other side of the door.

"Be right down!" Lydia said as she got out of bed and changed into a clean t-shirt. Arranging her room would have to wait, she guessed.

 **Sunday, Evening – Clear**

Given that the kitchen still needed some work, the family decided to go out to eat for lunch and dinner at the nearby fast food restaurants. Most of the day was actually pretty busy, since the family also needed groceries to stock the kitchen and pantry with, and only after they had gotten back home from eating dinner was Lydia given any time to unpack her own things and start setting up her room.

It was once again close to midnight as she flopped on her bed, tired from all the moving things around. Gerald had at least been forced to deal with the heavier stuff, but he couldn't care less about where his things ended up. It was very possible that some of the stuff in his boxes would never leave them until their parents forced him to either do something with it or give it away to charity.

That wasn't to say she didn't have her fair share of old things she didn't want to let go of. She looked over at ol' Junebug, a worn-out old stuffed ladybug that she'd used as a pillow when she was a kid. He was too old to be used as a pillow anymore, but she could never bring herself to give him away, even after all of her other stuffed animals had been sent off to live with other children. Junebug was there to listen to her troubles when nobody else could, or would. Even if she had just imagined a personality for him, the memories she had with him were precious enough to let him stay.

"So, what do you think the new school will be like?" She whispered to him. Of course, he didn't say anything – she'd imitate a deeper, cartoony male voice for all of his responses. Even though she was alone now, she didn't feel like doing the same thing again. Instead, she merely imagined his response in her mind:

" _It'll be whatever you make of it!"_

With this thought in mind, she once again fell asleep, awaiting the day to come.

Instead of waking up in her bed, however, she now found herself sitting in a big blue chair, with painstakingly crafted wooden armrests and a cushy velvet-lined backrest. She blinked and looked up to see something even more unusual than Philemon: a short, balding man sitting across from her with an impressively long nose that immediately brought to mind images of Pinocchio. Standing next to him was a young man that looked somewhere in his early twenties, dressed very nice in a blue suit that resembled that of a butler's. The young man had silver hair and otherworldly golden eyes, and was eyeing her with a curious look, making her feel self-conscious.

"Ah! It would seem we have yet another interesting guest. Do not worry; you are still fast asleep in the real world." The man with the long nose spoke, his eyes never leaving her. Looking around, Lydia saw that this place was reminiscent of a theater's dressing room, with many different costumes hanging on racks and a set of mirrors with dimmed vanity lights placed behind the chair of the long-nosed man. Everything was veiled in blue – the floor was blue, the racks and most of the clothes were blue, and even the mirrors had a bluish tint to them. The only thing that seemed to be missing was an actual exit, which might have been behind her for all she knew since all she could see was what was in front of her.

"My name is Igor. Welcome to the Velvet Room. This place exists between mind and matter, between dream and reality. If you are here, it means that you have signed a contract, or are very near to doing so. What is your name?" A contract... she didn't remember signing any sort of contract. Was this what Philemon was talking about, perhaps? Was Igor the servant he had been referring to?

"My name is Lydia White. Are you Philemon's servant?" At the mention of his master's name, Igor's grin widened, and for a moment he closed his eyes and chuckled. The young man next to him took a moment to give Igor a questioning look, as if he'd never heard the name before.

"Ah. It has been quite a while since I have heard that name. Yes, I am a servant of Philemon. It would seem, then, that you have met my master. Knowing him, he has already told you of what is in store for you, and has given you the power you need to overcome it. Which means... it now falls upon me and my assistant to help you develop that power. Please, Victor, introduce yourself to our guest." The young man standing next to him bowed gracefully to her.

"My name is Victor. Like my master, I too am a resident of this Velvet Room. It is my duty to assist you in whatever ways possible throughout your time here. I am pleased to make your acquaintance. I must also thank you. I was not sure what my master's laugh would sound like, and because of your question, now I know." She nodded to him, not sure of what to say.

"Well, then. It would seem that we still have some time remaining before you awake. In that case, allow me to present you with the proof of the contract you have made. Victor, if you would."

"Yes, of course." Victor reached into his pocket and pulled out a large key with the symbol of a mask on its handle, and gave it to Lydia. She held it in her hands and found that it was weighty, about as heavy as she would expect from a key this size.

"That is a key to this Velvet Room. When you return to the real world, you will come across several locations that will allow you to access this place again. Of course, you will be the only one able to see them." Lydia put the key beside her in the chair and looked directly at Igor. Even though he looked menacing with his wide grin and bizarre appearance, she could sense that he was a good person – a similar feeling to the one she had when she met Philemon.

"What exactly do I have to do to fulfill my end of the contract?" She asked.

"All we ask is that you take responsibility for your actions. Your decisions will no doubt change the destinies of those around you, and seeing as how my master has deigned to give you the power of the Beholder, your perceptions of others will also influence how things will unfold. Please keep that in mind as you go forth from this place. Until we meet again..." The Velvet Room and its inhabitants began to waver and dissolve away in front of her, until she opened her eyes again and found herself back in her bed with the rising sun just visible outside of her window.

* * *

 **August 24, 2015 – Monday, Early Morning – Sunny**

Today was the day her junior year of high school began. Lydia sat up in her bed, thinking that maybe the dream with Philemon was just an incredible coincidence. To have this sort of thing happen twice in just a few days told Lydia that this was very unlikely to be a coincidence, a randomly generated set of thoughts from her unconscious. She knew that whatever was going to happen over this next school year would be unlike anything she'd experienced before, and that knowledge filled her with both a sense of excitement as well as a sense of dread.

 _I don't know what the power of this "Beholder" is. Philemon said I was meant to play a part in deciding the "fate of man"? Does that mean he wants me to be some kind of heroine? I... I don't know if I really want that, but there's a part of me that not only doesn't mind, but wants to jump into it without abandon. Well... I shouldn't worry about that right now. Whatever he was talking about will sort itself out later. It's time to get ready for school._

* * *

 **A/N (originally written May 18, 2015): It's been a while since I've had an idea that I felt was good enough to go the distance for. I read up on the history of the Persona series and learned about the terrible localization of the very first Persona game for PSX, which gave me an idea: have a Persona story take place in the Western world, built from the ground up to take advantage of a different setting. That means the calendar and narrative flow is going to be different, but as this opening chapter has hopefully shown, there'll be enough familiar elements such that it still feels like Persona.**

 **A/N (for Halloween 2015 update): I figured that highlighting a certain event in Lydia's past from the start would set up certain future chapters better. Hopefully it's done that. Also I cleaned up some stuff.**

 **A/N (for July 2017 update): I changed two things, both of which are very minor. First thing is, Quartz's stated population is now 85,199 instead of 40,199. This is due to there being three high schools and a decently-sized mall in the city, which the previous population was far too low to justify. If you're curious as to where _exactly_ Quartz would be on a map, look up League City, Texas. Why not just use League City, you ask? Two reasons: 1) It's less research for me to have to do and 2) I get to design the city where the majority of the story will be taking place in. The second thing I changed is the line where Lydia remarks to herself about the butterfly on the window, instead questioning why she sees a butterfly instead of questioning its color. Turns out white butterflies are not that uncommon in Texas!**


	2. Chapter 2

**August 24, 2015 – Monday, Early Morning – Sunny**

Lydia sighed as she came downstairs for breakfast. Today began a year full of unknowns; what kind of friends would she be able to make? Would the classes be hard? How much is there to _do_ in Quartz, situated somewhere between the big city of Houston and the coastal city of Galveston?

At least one thing was already decided as she came across her brother pouring milk on top of his cereal: she'd have to drive that little brother of hers around town.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. You ready to meet all the new people?" Gerald asked, soaking the flakes in the milk to make them squishier. Lydia grabbed the box of cereal and poured the flakes into a styrofoam bowl, taking the milk and pouring enough to fill the bowl halfway. She liked the flakes when they were crunchy; putting as much milk to fill the bowl entirely like her brother always left a bunch of leftover milk behind.

"I guess. Ruby J. Fulton High School... mom and dad said it was a newer school, right? It'd just opened up like, five years ago?"

"I dunno. Hey, if that's true, it means I can make my mark as one of the best basketball players that school's ever seen. Watch us go to the state championship, yeah? So what about you? You used to be on the dance team at our old school. Think you might be interested in sticking with it?" A new school meant new opportunities. She didn't _have_ to do the same thing she did before, but at the same time, that'd solve one of the unknowns facing her pretty quickly.

"We'll see. I want to see what they have to offer before I commit to anything." She quickly went through the cereal, and drank the leftover milk before tossing the bowl in the trash. She went back up to her room to gather her things, and left the house with Gerald already waiting at the passenger side of her car. He was always what their parents had called an "eager beaver", the kind that lived for new experiences and would gladly take you up on a crazy plan if he thought it was worth it.

"Calm down, Squirrelly Boy. We're not gonna get there late. Remember, the school's only a few minutes away from here." She said as she locked up and opened the car doors.

As she pulled out of the driveway, her brother decided to turn the radio to some local rap station, the words coming out of the speakers almost going too fast for her to understand. She briefly considered smacking him upside the head for messing with her radio without her permission, but decided against it and merely changed the station, settling on some pop song.

"My car, my radio. If you want to listen to that stuff, use your music player." She said, following the route she'd memorized to get to the high school. Ruby J. Fulton was situated midway between the residential area she lived in and the main city hub, and the logo of a falcon surrounded by a red-and-blue cycle told her that this was the place. Classes were due to start in about fifteen minutes. She found a parking spot towards the athletic fields and parked there. The moment the car stopped, Gerald opened the door and immediately made for the main school building.

"See you later, sister! Make sure you don't forget about me, alright?" He was practically running towards it, she thought. For someone whose grades were solidly average, he sure had a lot of enthusiasm to get the day started.

When Lydia entered the building, she opened her copy of her schedule and found her way to her first class, which was in a different building than the one she stepped into. Many of the other students seemed well-acquainted with the school already, with the younger freshmen all taking in their new surroundings. She wondered if there were any other new upperclassmen like herself – probably, there was likely a good chance with the number of students here. From what she'd read about the school, it was about the same size as the last one she went to, which itself was relatively small.

The first class of the day was history, taught by one Benjamin Marshall. The man himself didn't seem to be present, although some of the students were already in their seats. One of them stood out in particular; a short Hispanic girl focusing intensely into a compact mirror. Her hair was tied up in a bun and she wore a pair of jean shorts with an asymmetric black t-shirt that exposed her shoulder, along with a pair of thin-rimmed silver glasses framing her face. There was a guy sitting next to her giving her an unamused look, as if this was an annoying habit of hers.

She decided to sit on the other side of the girl, curious about why she was having a staring match with herself. The guy noticed Lydia's wandering eyes and sighed.

"C'mon, Allie, you're distracting people. I don't think it's going to happen." The girl's concentration was broken and she snapped the compact mirror closed, looking to the guy next to her before looking at Lydia.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She put the mirror away and took a breath through her nostrils before opening her notebook for class.

"I don't think I've seen you around before. Are you new here?" The guy asked Lydia. He had spiked brown hair, and wore a graphic tee with some action movie figure on it and slim-fitting jeans.

"Yeah. I'm Lydia. I just moved here."

"Cool. Name's Damien, and this here is my friend Allie." Allie nodded at the mention of her name and gave Lydia a nervous wave.

"Hey. Hope you got settled in okay."

"It was fine, the drive over here was more tiring than anything else." The teacher then walked into the room as the warning bell rang, drawing everyone's attention. He was a middle-aged man with thinning brown hair that had also begun to gray. He sported well-trimmed facial hair, and was dressed in a striped button-down shirt and pressed khakis.

"I heard he's kinda strict, but that he's also really good. I think if you just pay attention and don't mess around, you'll be fine." Damien said in a low voice as Mr. Marshall began to write on the whiteboard. The next few minutes passed as the rest of the students entered the classroom. Once the tardy bell rang, Mr. Marshall closed the door and faced his students.

"Good morning! If you're in my class, then I assume you're here to study American History. If not, the door's right over there. I'm Mr. Marshall, and over the course of this year, we'll be following the history of the United States of America, from its years as a set of British colonies all the way up until the present day. Today, we'll be going over the syllabus before we begin the course proper." The first half of the class was spent listening to Mr. Marshall talk about the outline of the course, as well as his grading policies and expectations of the students and of himself.

"...and if there are no more questions, we'll be moving on. I'm only going to say this once: I will not be reprimanding anyone for not bringing their book to class. If you forget to bring it, it'll be your responsibility to catch up on your own time. You all are old enough to be trusted with driving a car, so I expect at least that level of maturity. Neither I nor the rest of your classmates want to waste our time disciplining one another. Now! Open your books to page 15 and we'll take a look at the motives for the colonization of the American continents..." Lydia let out a breath as she opened the history book. Damien's source was right on point about this guy. No nonsense, ran a tight ship as far as his class was concerned. The feeling that he could easily explode if provoked enough likely scared his students into respecting him, too.

The bell rang as Mr. Marshall finished going over the current section.

"Okay, I'll see you all again tomorrow. Remember, the first assignment is due by this Wednesday, so don't forget about it." Everyone left, and Lydia found herself walking next to Allie and Damien as they were on their way to their next class.

"I wonder if it needs a bigger mirror to work." Allie said, looking once again into her compact mirror. Lydia had wondered what she was attempting to do before class started, and given Damien's reaction to it, he likely knew what it was too.

"What are you trying to do?" She asked, her curiosity now piqued. Damien put his hands behind his head as they walked along.

"See, around here there's been this series of... disappearances, kind of. People just up and vanish from work or from school, until they come stumbling out of the woods behind our school. They have no idea what happened to them, and everybody who comes back has this weird mark on their left shoulder. They seem alright, until they see themselves in the mirror – and then they just _stare,_ like endlessly _stare_ at their own reflection until somebody snaps them out of it. Allie thinks that looking really hard into a mirror is what causes those people to vanish in the first place." It sounded like the plot to a twist-laden suspense flick to Lydia. If that was really happening to people, why would Allie take the risk of becoming another victim?

"Wow, that's... I've never heard of something like that happening before. Has anyone from this school been affected?"

"Not that I know of. It just started happening like, a month ago or something. There's already been a couple of incidents. The police have searched the woods, but they haven't found anything. And I mean, I like the idea of there being something crazy happening in this town, but... I don't know how I'd feel about taking it on alone." He looked at Allie as he said this.

"I wouldn't be alone. I have you. But... if I'm going to use a bigger mirror to try it, the next best thing I can think of would be the mirror in the girls' restroom."

"Yeah, well, I can't help you there. Listen, this isn't some urban legend. If you're gonna insist on getting yourself warped out to the woods, I want someone who's just as willing to get involved with that stuff beside you. And right now, the only person that's up for that is me." Lydia wondered if this had anything to do with the trial Philemon had said she was going to go through. If there wasn't any pattern as to who was affected, then maybe she was at risk for becoming a victim, too. Anybody could be affected – everybody looked in a mirror sometimes, didn't they?

"Why do you want it to happen to you, Allie?" Lydia asked. Allie seemed shocked at that question, and Damien gave her a look that said he wanted to know the answer, too.

"It's just... curiosity. I don't know how else to say it, I just want to know _how_ it really happens." She looked down at the floor as the group rounded a corner. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a tall guy put up a flyer for the school's eSports club.

 _I've never heard of a club like that. I wonder what that means by eSports, online gaming or something?_

"Listen, you gotta promise me that you'll have someone you trust near you if you're gonna do this. Whether it's me or somebody else, promise me you're not going to try this alone. Okay?" Damien said, the both of them stopping outside their next class. Allie sighed and walked towards the open door.

"Yeah, I promise. I'll see you at lunch, okay? Maybe you too, Lydia, if you have first lunch." As a matter of fact, she did. That was a nice coincidence.

"Where are you headed?" Lydia pulled out her schedule and looked at the room number. According to the numbering of the rooms so far, it was probably the one at the end of the hall.

"Looks like the room at the end of the hall. Chemistry with Alvarez." Damien put his hands behind his head again.

"Aw, yeah. I'm in that, too. Hey, mind if I see your schedule? I wonder how many classes we actually have together." She handed him her schedule, which he compared to his own.

"Well, dip me in butter and call me toast! Our schedules are just about identical. Taking honors too, huh? Cool. Looks like the only periods we don't have in common are our P.E. classes and math. Yeah, math was never really my strong suit. Well, don't worry about fitting in here. I get the feeling you'll do just fine here. Come on, let's go see how hard chem's gonna be."

 **Monday, After School – Sunny**

The way sports and clubs worked, if one chose not to join any of them by the end of the second week, they'd be stuck in P.E. instead. Which meant that Lydia had to pick something that interested her, and there were plenty of options at her disposal:

 _The dance team is having tryouts this Thursday after school. The volleyball team is also having tryouts, but on Monday of next week. There's also that eSports club – just the very idea of a club devoted to online gaming is interesting, if nothing else. They're open to new members starting next week. And... there's drama club, the library is apparently looking for a couple of volunteers... and sheesh, that's not even considering the idea that I could choose to work a part-time job instead. It looks like some of those unknowns are going to become knowns after the end of next week, for certain._

She walked back to her car, waiting for Gerald to show up. She watched some of the guys in the field kick around a soccer ball before turning her attention to the many trees that the school was situated next to. According to Damien, that was the edge of the woods that the disappeared people would come out of, if they ever came out at all. There was one person that had never returned, of the several that were reported missing.

"Hey! I'm ready to go." Gerald called from behind her, and the both of them got in the car and went home.

"So, how'd it go? Make any new friends?" He asked as they pulled out of the school's parking lot. She wondered if he'd heard about the disappearances, too.

"Yeah, a couple. I met them in my history class. They seemed real nice, if not a little... strange, I guess?" Given what had happened to her over the past couple of days, it was going to be hard to top Philemon and Igor.

"Sounds like your kind of people, then! Hey, though. Did you hear about how people are ending up in the woods for no reason? Pretty spooky stuff, huh?"

"So you _have_ heard about it. No one at school has been affected yet... I hope they figure out what's going on soon." She didn't want to tell her brother about Allie's theory that mirrors might have been the trigger, lest he spend an hour in the bathroom staring into the mirror trying to make something happen.

"You think they'd make a movie out of it? I bet you some filmmaker somewhere is going to hear about this and say, 'Hey, there's a money-maker right there! Let's make some _money!'"_ Lydia sighed as she drove home.

"You watch too many cheesy twist movies. What about you? What happened to _you_ today?" Gerald drew in a deep breath, which meant he was about to start talking her ear off.

"Well, because I'm a freshman, it means I'm as new as everybody else, right? So I meet these guys right as I'm walking to my first class and we start talking about how our summers went. Their names were Don and Ron, I kid you not – so I kid about them being brothers or something, which of course they're not. Turns out they'd met each at some kind of summer camp, and they started hanging out a lot after they learned they were both from here. I asked them what they knew about this place, and they told me their older siblings went here when the place first opened, so I learned all sorts of stuff about the teachers and stuff here. Then we all had the same first class – it's algebra, which I can already tell is gonna be _ridiculous_ , yeah? It was cool to have someone I already knew that early. After that, we had to go to different classes, so I was kinda on my own until lunch, second lunch to be exact. I ended up sitting next to this cute girl with a bow in her hair, and we got to talking about how our first day had been so far. I didn't know she was a sophomore, 'cause she was so short! Like, you should've seen her, she _had_ to have been under five feet tall. Yeah, her name was Betsy – and I was like, 'Wow, I don't think I've ever met a Betsy before!' and she told me that it was apparently her great-aunt's name, someone she'd never met in her life since she died before she was born. As luck would have it, we had our next class together, so I was like, 'Sweet, I get to know her a little bit more!' and then I told her about how I wanted to try out for the basketball team later this week. She said she wasn't really into sports, but she wished me luck anyways. Theeeeeen-"

"We're home!" Lydia said, cutting him off as she pulled into the driveway. She'd had to deal with that for years living in the same room as him, and now that she had her domain of solitude, she was going to enjoy every minute she could get in it.

"Oh. Well, yeah, so then we went to biology class, which I think is gonna be pretty okay since the teacher's kinda cool – she has this 'I'm super smart because I have a Nobel Prize' vibe coming off of her, I swear..." This was just a phase, she reminded herself. All the excitement from the new stimuli would eventually go away and he'd go back to being his normal, only _mostly_ exuberant self. As for her, she already had homework that she could be doing, history being the most urgent one as it was due in two days.

 **Monday, Evening – Clear**

Lydia had finished all of her homework for the week by the time the clock struck eleven, and felt sleep calling to her once again as she put the pre-calculus book away. That meant she could spend the rest of the week mulling over which sports and clubs she was going to join. Underneath all of these mundane things was the trial Philemon mentioned, and her intuition told her it was probably going to have something to do with the string of disappearances going on in this town. Damien had made Allie promise him that she wouldn't try the mirror trick alone, and her idea of using the girls' restroom at school meant that she might ask Lydia to accompany her. Or maybe not – Allie didn't seem like that open of a person, with Damien sort of speaking for her more than she spoke for herself. It _was_ only the first day. Allie probably had somebody else she could ask to help out.

As Lydia closed her eyes, she wondered if she was going to see anyone strange in her dreams tonight. There was only one way to find out, so she let the silence soothe her to sleep and went to the realm of the unconscious once again.

* * *

 **A/N: Search720p - Thanks for the review! I'll try and keep it entertaining for you.**


	3. Chapter 3

**August 27, 2015 – Thursday, Early Morning – Sunny**

The day had come when one of the unknowns was finally going to be resolved. Lydia had decided that she was going to get back into dancing, and had packed her old dancing clothes for the tryouts after school today.

 _I don't think I can go wrong with dancing. I wasn't the best on the squad or anything back at my old school, but I could definitely hold my own. Hopefully the girls here think so, too..._

Gerald had still yet to recover from his bout of overstimulation, and so continued to talk off her ear throughout breakfast and on the way over to school. When the two parted, Lydia breathed a sigh of relief and headed to history class.

 **Thursday, Lunchtime – Sunny**

"So, no luck finding someone who will do the mirror thing with you?" Damien asked Allie as Lydia sat down next to her. Allie shook her head and chomped on a fry, looking disappointed.

"Who else would believe me? I don't want to become known as that crazy girl who stares into mirrors." Damien took a bite out of his hamburger and gestured with it towards Allie.

"You know, there are other places besides the girls' restroom where you can find a big enough mirror. Actually, and I'm just taking a shot in the dark here, wouldn't the restrooms _not_ be a good idea if you wanted a place where you wouldn't get weird looks for staring into a mirror? Aren't there always people coming and going?" Allie took a sip from her drink.

"Not if you're there really early or really late. After school, before school... no one's there. And you know I can't drive yet. What other place did you have in mind where my sudden disappearance wouldn't cause people to call the cops?" Allie made a face the moment she said that. Damien sighed, scratching the back of his head.

"Are you _sure_ you're doing alright? It sounds like you _really_ _want_ to get abducted, and that worries me." Allie shook her head, before grabbing a handful of fries and shoving them into her mouth. After she'd swallowed them all, she took a moment to compose herself before speaking again.

"It's not something you need to worry about. I've kept my promise, haven't I?" Lydia noticed that she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye as she said that.

"Hey, if there's something eating at you, you know you can tell me. I'm not going to judge you."

"Yeah, I know." She looked at Lydia for the first time since she sat down at the table.

"What about you? Do _you_ think I'm crazy, Lydia?" Allie's eyes were filled with a lot of tension, as if she was expecting her to emphatically say 'Yes, you are!' Had she not been subject to some crazy stuff before the year started, she might've had trouble avoiding that confirmation – she might've said something like,

" _You just have an overactive imagination. Stop worrying so much about it."_ However, part of her wanted to believe her, if only to give her some extra affirmation.

"I don't think so. No one knows how those people disappeared yet. It's only natural to want to know what's causing it." Allie's gaze softened, and her shoulders dropped, letting out the tension she probably wasn't even aware she'd been building up.

"Yeah. Someone has to be the one to figure out what the deal is." No one said anything for a moment, before Damien decided to speak up again.

"So, are you going to keep going with the eSports club? Last year's _Legion of Gladiators_ tournament was pretty successful; your team got as far as the semifinals last time, if I remember correctly." Allie shook her head and smiled, remembering that day when her team lost because of a bad strategic call.

"Fenrir thought our team was strong enough to survive that ambush. I _told him_ we needed more vision control, and then they jumped us from the one place we _couldn't see._ Yeah, I'm going to participate again. I won't be satisfied until we're the best in the region."

"So, let me ask: what exactly does the eSports club do?" Lydia said, finishing her food.

"We get together every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and basically have a LAN party with various competitive online games. Uh, that means we all bring our computers and play against each other. Twice a year, towards the end of each semester, we have a set of tournaments for the bigger games. You don't really have to be _good_ at any of the games to join; even if you've never played one before, we'd still welcome you. It's all about having fun, in the end." That was probably about as many words as she'd heard the glasses-wearing girl speak the rest of the week; clearly this club meant a lot to her.

"She's even got me going to it, sometimes. They're pretty lax about attendance – but in order to keep their official status as a school club, there has to be so many people going every week. It was rough getting off the ground when it started up a few years ago, but now it's pretty much an established thing." Damien said, putting his hands behind his head again. Definitely a habit of his, Lydia noted.

"Sometimes? What keeps _you_ busy?" She asked him. He straightened up and looked at her.

"I'm one of the volunteers at the school library. Actually, I'm one of only _two,_ ever since the rest of them graduated last year. I help out the librarian with checking out books and making sure people stay quiet in there. It keeps me from being stuck in P.E., so it's not too bad. If you're interested, let me know. I'll talk to the librarian for you – she'll pretty much take whoever she can get right now." Lydia nodded. It looks like her schedule would become pretty full real quick if she decided to take her friends' offers of extracurricular activity.

"Lemme go throw this away. Lydia, I can take your tray too, give it here."

"Thanks." She let him have her tray and watched him walk towards the trashcans and stacks of used trays.

"Lydia. I need to ask you something." Allie spoke with an urgent tone to her voice, prompting her to lean in.

"What are you doing after school today?"

"I was going to go try out for the dance team."

"What about tomorrow? Are you busy tomorrow after school?"

"Uh, not that I know of. What's going on?" Allie quickly looked to see that Damien was throwing away the trash and was about to stack the trays on the pile of used ones.

"I want you to help me test my theory about the mirrors. We'll use the girls' bathroom on the second floor, no one will be there after school." Lydia hesitated; if her theory was right, Allie would disappear and who knows what would happen to her after that.

"Listen, if something happens to me, you can call the cops immediately. And if nothing happens, I'll never ask you for a favor like this ever again. Please? I don't know who else to ask." Lydia closed her eyes for a moment and thought about it. Allie _really_ wanted to do this, and sooner or later she was probably going to give in to the pressure of her own curiosity and try to do it alone. If no one was going to be around after school on a Friday – a reasonable assumption, for the most part – then no one would see them staring into a mirror for no apparent reason.

"Okay. I'll do it." And if Allie waited until Damien was gone to ask, that meant she didn't want him to know.

"So, Lydia, are you going to participate in any sports while you're here?" Damien asked as he returned to his seat.

"Uh, yeah, I'm going to try out for the dance team after school. If I don't make that, there's also volleyball tryouts next week."

"Nice, nice. Hope it works out for you." The group spent the rest of their lunch period talking about various things until it was time to go to class again. Allie pulled on Damien's shirt as they stepped into the hallway and said to him,

"We need to talk. Now." He looked at her quizzically and turned to Lydia.

"You go on ahead. I'll catch up with you." What was she going to tell him? Was she going to tell him about how she'd gotten her to help out with her plan to test the mirror theory?

 _Who knows? Either way, I've made a commitment for Friday, and I'm not going to go back on it now._

 **Thursday, After School – Sunny**

Lydia walked into the gym where they were holding the tryouts for the dance team, and came across a table with a sign-up list, manned by a girl her age with her blonde hair in a ponytail.

"Hey! You're here for the tryouts, right?" She said, flashing a bright smile at her.

"Yeah." The blonde girl handed her a pen and pointed to a blank spot on the sign-up sheet.

"Go ahead and put your name and information there. Please print." She filled out the various fields and handed the pen back to the girl.

"Lydia, huh? You must be new here! I don't think I've ever seen a Lydia around here. Well, anyways, the locker rooms are behind me and to the left. Go ahead and get changed and meet everyone else out on the basketball court, alright?" Lydia walked in that direction and noticed some of the girls coming out from the locker rooms, already dressed and chatting about some TV show. She walked into the locker room and began to change, where a brunette with sharp-looking green eyes noticed her and walked over to her.

"New blood, huh? Good luck. The leader of this team's kind of a bitch, so if she doesn't like you for whatever reason, you are _not_ gonna be on her team." Lydia sighed, not exactly surprised by this development. Her previous experience with a dance team was not exactly free of drama, either.

"I'll be fine. Thanks." The brunette pulled on her top and stretched her arms out.

"The name's Dawn, by the way. Dawn Windsor. Remember it, would you?"

"Uh... okay. I'm Lydia White." Compared to the so-called bitchiness of the leader she hadn't met yet, this girl didn't exactly seem all that nice, either. She wondered if there was some bad blood between them. Dawn didn't even say anything else to her before she left, leaving Lydia to wonder how much she was willing to put up with in terms of stupid drama.

She finished changing and walked out of the locker room and onto the basketball court, where a short girl with bright red hair was tapping her foot impatiently, giving her and the other girls an intimidating stare as they came out.

"Is everyone here? Okay! So, most of you already know who I am, but for those who don't, my name is Carla Simmons. I'm the leader of this team, and I'll be the one who decides whether or not you'll be on it. Coach Carter is out at the moment recovering from her surgery, so she's trusted _me_ with running this team until she gets back. Now, here's how we're going to do this – first..." Lydia stood like a soldier at attention and listened to the small redhead give orders, with a couple of other girls standing beside her to execute those orders.

After about an hour of waiting or so, Lydia had completed her tryout, which by Carla's insistence had to be in front of everybody else and after most of the others. She sighed and waited as the redhead was conferring with her left and right hands over a stack of papers, looking around at the rest of the prospective members. Some of them looked completely unaffected by the whole process, likely because they'd been through it before. The younger girls, however, looked nervous and chattered amongst themselves about whether or not they'd make it. Dawn in particular sat by herself on the bleachers, filing her nails.

"Hey! Listen up!" Carla barked, getting everyone's attention.

"We're done for today. I've gotta go run these by the coach, so the results won't be posted until Monday. Some of you were pretty good. Some of you were pretty _bad,_ too, and I would appreciate it if those girls actually _learn_ how to dance so you don't embarrass your date at the homecoming dance... if you can _get one,_ that is. Okay! That's all, you can leave now." Lydia rolled her eyes. If anything, Carla was an example of how attitude made up for a lack of imposing presence – the girl was almost certainly a senior, but probably wasn't more than an inch above five feet tall. She was also certainly not a natural redhead, especially since the color she used was brighter than any natural shade of red.

 _Something in me wouldn't mind it if I didn't make this team._

 **Thursday, Evening – Clear**

Since she had finished all her homework the day before, Lydia had to find something else to do to pass the time. She turned on the TV and decided to watch it until she got sleepy. She got ready for bed and in the time, wondered exactly what was going to happen when Allie stared into that mirror. Would anything even happen at all?

 _I wish I could be sure nothing will happen. I can't shake this feeling that something **is** going to happen, though... which is why I have to do this. I can't let her do this alone._

She fell asleep holding Junebug close to her.


	4. Chapter 4

**August 28, 2015 – Friday, Early Morning – Cloudy**

"Gerald, I'm going to be leaving school later than usual again." Lydia told her brother as they were on the road to school.

"That's cool. I was actually going to tell you that Don and Ron invited me to Don's place so we could shoot some hoops and play some video games. I already ran it by mom and dad and they said they were fine with it, so you don't even have to worry about leaving me behind or anything! Uh, you'll probably still need to pick me up later on, though. It won't be until after dinner at least, though."

"Okay." That was good. He wouldn't be around to potentially interfere with the plan, and if something went awry, she'd have plenty of time to spare.

"What are you staying around for, anyway? There something going on?"

"Yeah, I made some plans with a friend of mine, too." Hopefully he wouldn't pry.

"Oh, alright. Hey, looks like we're both fitting in just fine, huh?" She smiled. That certainly seemed to be the case.

"Yeah."

 **Friday, After School – Cloudy**

Lydia's last class was on the first floor, near the stairs. As the students dispersed to go home for the weekend, she walked up the stairs and decided to go inside the girls' restroom, feeling that if something was going to happen, it would be best that her bladder be empty for it.

There was only one other girl inside, and it wasn't Allie. Lydia used the restroom and washed her hands, trying not to look into the mirror. The other girl left and Lydia dried her hands with the noisy air dryer, before going out and seeing Allie and Damien walking towards her. Neither of them had anything to say until they were right next to her.

"I can't go in, but I can at least hang around and wait for you two outside. If anybody asks me what I'm doing, that's what I'm gonna say – that I'm waiting for my friends to finish." Damien said, pulling out his phone so he'd look like he was doing something while idling outside the restrooms. Allie had a blank look on her face, her expression unreadable.

"Come on. Let's go." She entered the restroom, and Lydia followed. Allie made sure that there wasn't anyone else inside, and then opened her bag to reveal an expensive-looking video camera, which she turned on and fiddled with for a moment before handing it to Lydia.

"Press the red button when I tell you. That'll start the recording. If anything _does_ happen to me, I want to have proof." Lydia nodded, and let out a nervous breath before pointing the camera at Allie, who had placed her hands on the sink.

"Go. Press the button." Lydia did so, and Allie turned her head towards the camera while still holding the sink.

"My name is Allison Lorena de Luna. I'm a junior at Ruby J. Fulton High School, and I'm going to see whether or not looking into this mirror is going to make me disappear into the woods like those other people. If it does, then you'll know exactly how it happens. If not, then you'll know this isn't what causes it." She looked down into the sink and closed her eyes, before opening them before the mirror and staring into it. Unlike the first time, where she was trying to focus as hard as she could, Allie's gaze was much more natural. It was like she was trying to see inside herself, like she was expecting the person on the other side of the mirror to say something to her.

An entire minute passed in silence with nothing happening, and Lydia began to wonder how long Allie was going to do this before she called it quits. Holding the camera would get tiring after a while, for sure.

She noticed that after that first minute that Allie was beginning to smile, and her eyes starting to glaze over. Lydia noticed that the Allie in the mirror was _changing,_ becoming taller and more beautiful right in front of her – the other Allie reached up to her glasses and tossed them away, never breaking eye contact with the real Allie. Her hair undid itself from its bun and was colored with purple and red streaks as it ran down her back.

 _What is going on? She needs to stop looking at it!_

The other Allie's clothes began to morph as well, changing their color and shape until she was wearing a mint green tube top, a black jacket, and a scarlet-colored miniskirt. In the midst of the transformation, Lydia could see that Allie's smile was turning into a grin, and that she was leaning in closer to the mirror.

 _She's going to disappear. I have to stop this!_

She put the camera into one hand and attempted to reach out to Allie with the other. The moment she touched her shoulder, everything flashed a blinding white, and Lydia felt herself being swept up and tossed somewhere. She landed on her side on what felt like grass, and coughed as she sat up to get her bearings.

All around her was a valley bathed in sunlight, with quartz deposits dotting the grassland as far as the eye could see. Everything seemed to glitter and shine with an unnatural beauty. Lydia was about to remark on how she had seen a place like this before in her dreams – as the last place Philemon had taken her to before he disappeared – but Allie had already stood up and was running away.

"I... I need to find her!" She shouted in a restless voice, and ahead of her the deposits of quartz begin to grow into what looked like a warehouse. Lydia ran after her, but the grass had decided to spring up as a fence of vines, blocking her off. She looked to see if the video camera was still running, but it had stopped working. Nothing she did could get it to turn back on, and she reached into her pocket to look at her phone.

 _It's not working either. It's completely dead, and I **know** I charged it last night. What is going on... this place changed for her, as it if **knew** she was coming! How am I supposed to get in?_

Some of the nearby quartz deposits began to turn black. Lydia watched as the black colors coalesced into thick black dots, which then leaped out of the quartz like they were living pieces of goo and began to approach her. A mint green mask rose from each the black things, appearing to have only one eye with a set of teeth represented by the lines carved into the bottom of the mask. Their features emerged as they took shape; each of them a human-sized creature thin as a wire with long, black claws for hands.

 **I am thou...**

 **Thou art I...**

A woman's voice echoed in her mind like a megaphone turned up full blast, making Lydia cringe in pain, dropping the video camera. Who was that...? What were these strange creatures coming of the quartz? What was actually going on right now?

 **Now is the time...**

 **Look within thineself and bring forth thine inner strength!**

Lydia felt something being placed in her hand, and looked at it to see what it was. It was a mirror, small enough to fit in her hand and decorated with an antique-looking ivory border with multiple curved ends, as if it was meant to be a fancy leaf. The mirror was enveloped in blue flame, and Lydia looked up to see that the humanoid creatures were clawing at her, still slowly approaching her.

 _What am I supposed to do with a mirror? What **are** these things? This place is exactly like the valley that Philemon took me to – he called it the 'battleground upon which the fate of all will be decided' – is **this** what he meant? Am I supposed to **fight** these things with a mirror? How?!_

She looked into the mirror and beheld the image of a woman dressed in a flowing white gown, with black hair and shining blue eyes. She realized that this was the source of the voice that she had just heard, the one telling her to bring forth her inner strength. She looked back up at the creatures that had come from the quartz, and then put the pieces together. There was power within this mirror, and she needed it to fight these things off and go after Allie.

Her brown eyes met the blue ones staring back at her, and the next word came to her from within the depths of her soul.

"Per... so... na." The mirror then was consumed by the blue flames, and the woman that was in it appeared before Lydia, floating in mid-air and having grown much, much larger. Rivulets of water surrounded her, and she looked down at Lydia with eyes that felt very much like her own.

"Ophelia." Lydia spoke the name of the woman, who nodded and then turned to the black creatures.

" _I believe these creatures are keeping us from saving your friend. Command my power, so that we may vanquish them together!"_ Ophelia's words echoed through Lydia's mind, now much more tolerable to hear. She instinctively knew how Ophelia could fend them off, and shouted out the word,

"Aqua!" Ophelia then stretched out her hand, sending some of the water that surrounded her flying at the closest creature. The water shattered the creature into many pieces, bits of goo being sent everywhere. The remaining two creatures let out a shriek and began to go straight for Lydia, who willed Ophelia to come between them to protect her. She immediately flew in front and took their attack, which surprised Lydia in that she still felt the pain of the attack regardless.

" _We are as one. Your pain is mine, and my pain is also yours."_ Ophelia explained. Lydia narrowed her eyes at the disgusting creatures, and was now resolved to end their existence so that she could rescue Allie.

"Go! Aqua!" Ophelia concentrated on the same target Lydia was focusing on, and with a wave of her hand, a jet of water flew at it and split it apart. The final creature made another move to attack her, and she had Ophelia take the blow again.

"One more time. Aqua!" Ophelia once again sent a blast of water at the creature, which blew it into pieces. Now that all three of them had been destroyed, Lydia felt herself become stronger, as well as Ophelia.

" _This victory has strengthened our bond. I am now able to utilize Sukukaja, a skill that will enhance an ally's agility for a short time."_ Lydia nodded, and Ophelia disappeared. The mirror that she had originally appeared in rematerialized in Lydia's hand. She also picked up the video camera and saw that it still looked okay, even if it didn't work right now.

 _This must be how I summon my... Persona? That's what I called it, right? Persona, okay. I just have to look into the mirror and call to her. Now, it's time to go rescue my friend._

The vines still formed a wall between her and the warehouse made of quartz. If Ophelia's attacks could tear those creatures apart, surely it could get through this, right? She looked into the mirror.

"Ophelia! Cut through these vines!" The mirror shattered once again and Ophelia was brought forth, using her Aqua attack on the vines. They were easily torn apart by the jet of water, allowing Lydia to go through and run towards the warehouse. Once she approached the doors, she could hear Allie's voice inside.

" **All of this can be yours, other me! You don't ever have to leave here again..."** Or was it? It sounded ethereal and echoed, like a ghost was speaking. Lydia threw open the doors and saw the other Allie standing in front of the real one, with a shirtless, faceless man wearing glowing bracelets and tight-fitting jeans on each of her arms. A thumping electronic beat was playing from a set of huge speakers in the background, with a faceless DJ hunched over a computer screen messing with the equipment.

"A-are you sure? You mean I can really... be like you?"

"Allie!" Lydia called out to her. She turned around and froze upon seeing her, unable to respond. The other Allie rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers towards the real one.

" **Hello? Who cares about _her?_ You just met her! What does _she_ know about you? It's not like some girl you barely know is going to give you what you want, right?"** Lydia ran up to Allie and stood beside her, glaring at this idealized doppelganger. She rubbed her face against one of the faceless men, which made Allie blush and look at Lydia.

" **Admit it. You want to be me, don't you? This is the kind of life you dream about. You have all those boys from the eSports club, but none of them are good enough for you. You wish you had the excitement of a place like this every single day, with a body that no man could resist! You don't _need_ anyone to understand you if they're all hanging off your every word!"** The real Allie looked down at herself, covering her chest with her arms and shaking.

"Damien... Damien tries to understand me. He never judged me for being who I am." She said, her voice trembling. The idealized Allie scoffed, letting go of the faceless men and shoving them away from her. She walked up to the real one and said:

" **Yeah. He was the only good guy you ever met, wasn't he? Don't you want him to be even closer to you, then? Look at me. If you had my looks, my charisma, wouldn't he want to get to know you that much more? He might even admit that he loves you. Isn't that what you want?"** Lydia felt like she was watching a conversation going on inside Allie's mind. This idealized version of her was trying to get her to agree with it, as if it had her best interests in mind. Lydia could see a blue aura emanating from the idealized Allie, and her eyes were like the real one's, instead glowing so that the brown color shone through.

 _She feels like the same type of creature as the ones I fought outside. But those were mindless, this is... it's Allie's ideals about herself given a physical form._

"Don't listen to her, Allie!" Lydia shouted, getting both of the Allies' attention.

"This is just an illusion. That other you is trying to trick you. I may not have known you for that long, but I know that you're fine just the way you are now. Damien accepts you for who you are, and so do I. It doesn't matter that you're not perfect!" Allie looked up at Lydia and took a deep breath, before looking back at her idealized self.

"She... she has a point, you know. This place is amazing, yeah. But it's not real. Neither are you. That's why I don't want to be _you._ " The other Allie stepped back, flabbergasted. The blue aura around her was now turning black, until it covered her body with moving white stripes.

" **You don't want to be _me?_ You're hopeless! I'm going to make you see the truth..."** The black and white stripes flashed, quartz beginning to form around the other Allie like a chrysalis. After a moment, the chrysalis grew and exploded, revealing a monstrous creature in place of the doppelganger.

It looked like a living light show, its body full of different colored flashing lights. Its arms each held a different colored glowstick, which crackled with electricity. Its hair was a rainbow of different colors, and it seemed to be wearing a hexagonal ring around its chest.

" **I am an Idol! I'm everything you want to be, but aren't!"** Idol Allie pointed one of her glowsticks at the real Allie, who staggered back in fear.

" _Our elements are weak to each other. We should do our best to avoid being struck with an electrical attack."_ Ophelia spoke from within Lydia's mind. Lydia turned back to Allie and gave her the video camera.

"Here's your camera. Make sure you stay back, okay?" She focused on the mirror in her hand and saw her reflection turn into Ophelia.

"Let's do this. Ophelia, come forth!" Allie saw the mirror shatter and release Lydia's Persona, and immediately looked down at the camera and tried to turn it on. She quickly realized that it didn't work, and decided to listen to Lydia and stay at a safe distance from the thing that called itself her Idol.

"Sukukaja!" Lydia shouted. Ophelia waved her hand at her, and a flash of green light erupted from underneath her. Lydia now felt lighter on her feet, as if she could run circles around her opponent.

" **Get out of my way!"** Idol Allie shouted as she swung one of her electrified glowsticks at her. Lydia and Ophelia were easily able to dodge it.

 _This is incredible. Now it's time for a counterattack._

"Aqua!" Ophelia fired a blast of water at their opponent, which connected and shorted out her glowsticks and most of her lights. She crumpled to the ground, screaming in pain.

" _Her guard is down! Don't stop now!"_ Lydia's Persona urged.

"Again! Aqua!" Ophelia hit the Idol with another water attack, which made her shriek again.

" **You _bitch!_ I'll make you pay for that!"** She stood up again, and began charging her glowsticks with electricity. She then fired a lightning bolt right at Ophelia, which came at her so quickly she was unable to dodge it in time. The bolt rattled through Lydia by proxy, and both of them fell to the ground. Idol Allie then brought her glowstick down on top of Ophelia, giving Lydia a headache from the impact.

 _Isn't there any way we can make that hurt **less?** _ Lydia asked, as she brought herself to her feet, panting.

" _If we strengthen our defenses as she is preparing that attack, I believe we can reduce the damage we take from it."_ Ophelia responded. Lydia still felt the effects of Sukukaja on her, and so she used the extra agility to quickly take in her surroundings. Above the Idol was a set of lights; if they could knock her down like they had earlier, Ophelia might be able to bring those lights down on top of her.

" _An excellent plan. At your word, then!"_ Lydia nodded.

"Aqua!" Ophelia attacked, the water smacking the Idol right in the face. She groaned as she fell to her knees, dazed.

"Now! Cut the lights!" Ophelia's next attack severed the big, heavy flashing lights from the ceiling of the warehouse and brought them down on top of the Idol, who fell flat on her face from the weight. Her screams dissolved away as she crystallized into quartz, which broke apart into dust and revealed her previous form, kneeling and looking down at the ground.

Allie couldn't believe what she had just seen; this girl that had known her for less than a week had risked her life to save her from... herself, with some kind of supernatural being that fought alongside her. That other self of hers, the one that had called itself her Idol, really knew what she was talking about, even if it was exaggerated and used against her. What was she going to do about it now – it was still there!

"Allie." Lydia had turned to face her, and beckoned her over. She came over, and looked up at Ophelia, who smiled and waved at her before disappearing.

"What _was that?_ How did you do that?"

"That was Ophelia, my Persona. It's kind of a long story; I'll tell you about it later. Look. Your other self is still here." The other Allie rose to her feet, staggering as she struggled to look at the real one.

" **I don't... understand. Why won't you... accept me?"** She asked, breathing heavily. Allie walked forward and looked her other self in the eye.

"It's not that I don't like what you've shown me. It's just... I'm happy with who I am now. I don't need to be taller, or more shapely, or have guys crawling all over me to be a rave queen like you. And I know I could be more expressive. I'll get there! I just need to work on it. Sure, I don't have a lot of friends, but the ones I do have," Allie looked back at Lydia,

"The ones I have would still love me even with all my weird quirks." Her other self chuckled, sighing as she regained her stability.

" **Well, whaddya know. I guess there's room for the both of us after all."** She became enveloped in blue flames and transformed into a lithe female figure with snakes for hair, that stood before Allie as a mirror came into existence in front of her. It looked similar to the compact mirror she kept with her, except this one had a marble finish on its casing.

" _I am Medusa. Don't worry, the only ones that are going to turn to stone will be our enemies!"_ The Persona spoke. Allie held her breath, and took hold of the floating mirror.

"W-what? Is this... my Persona? Why do I get a _Gorgon?_ " Medusa frowned, and gestured to her clothing. Unlike the legendary Gorgon, she was wearing clothing that resembled the rave ensemble her Idol self had worn, and stood on two legs like a normal human being.

" _Weren't you just talking about accepting yourself just as you are, even with your weird quirks? I'm you, and you're me. And the snakes are nice, I promise!"_ Allie cracked up laughing at her Persona, who shook her head and smiled.

"You really are, aren't you? Oh. Um. Still, this is... of all the things I expected to happen to me, this was way beyond anything I could've imagined." Medusa disappeared and Allie looked at the mirror she was holding.

"I know. This valley must be where the people disappear to. I didn't see anybody else here when we came, so... if I had to guess at what happened with the other disappearances, people look into the mirror, start seeing their Idol selves in it, and then get transported here." Lydia began to speculate, looking around the place Allie's subconscious had created.

"I don't mean to be rude, but I think we have something more important to worry about right now. How are we supposed to get out of here? You said this place was a valley? The only thing I remember is running across the quartz deposits until I ended up in here. I didn't actually look at anything else." Allie made for the doors. The two girls left the quartz warehouse and walked back towards the opening Ophelia had made in the wall of vines.

"Wow. So... was this already here?" Lydia explained to her the events leading up to her arrival in the warehouse. While amazed, Allie had one question to ask at the end of it:

"I encountered my Idol here, but you didn't. Why was that? Was it because I was the one looking in the mirror and not you?"

"I think you answered your own question. You're right, though. We still need to find a way to leave this place." The girls walked through the fields, noticing how the quartz glistened in the otherworldly sunlight. There was no wind blowing here at all, and after a while, Allie sighed and bent down to look at one of the quartz deposits embedded in the ground.

"There's nothing here but grass and rocks!"

"I resent that! I am neither grass nor rock, nor Shadow either!" A high-pitched voice spoke from behind them, and both of the girls turned around to see another unexpected thing: another person, who appeared to be a high school student just like them, except wearing an ankle-length dress that seemed like they were made out of the very materials that surrounded them. Even her shoes, which were shaped to look like wedge heels, were made of quartz. The most prominent thing about this short Hispanic-looking girl was that she was translucent, her body fading in and out as she breathed.

"Who are you?" Lydia asked.

"Are you a ghost?" Allie asked at the same time. The girl in the grass-and-quartz dress humphed at them, before snapping her fingers and sitting down on a chair made of quartz.

"I guess you could say that, yeah. What I want to know is this: who are _you two,_ and how did the two of you survive against the Shadows?" Lydia took the time to explain to the ghost girl how they got here and what had happened to them. None of it seemed to impress her, at least up until the part where the Personas came in and Allie's Idol was defeated.

"You did what now? You actually managed to win against one of those things? That's... not bad. I wish _I'd_ had that power when I stood up to _my_ Idol. If you're wondering why I look like a ghost, you get three guesses as to what happened to me when I refused to accept it, and the first two don't count. I don't know how long I've been in here for, time doesn't seem to flow the same way as it does back in the real world. In fact, what's really stupid is that even though I remember how I got here and how I died, I don't remember _anything else_ about myself other than the initials of my name, F.Z. I heard you two talk about finding a way out."

"Do you know how we can leave?" Allie asked. F.Z. crossed her legs and sighed.

"Everybody else that I've seen that's come in here gives in to their Idol. After that happens, they sort of merge together and then disappear, I guess back into the real world if what you were saying about those disappearances is right. That's the only way I've seen people leave this place. Except... it's not the only way to get _out._ " She stood up, materialized a screwdriver-shaped piece of quartz into her hand, and jammed it into the air, carving a hole in space that faded away to reveal a portal with the same moving zebra stripes that had appeared on Allie's Idol.

"I figured this out after getting so frustrated with my situation that I wanted to kill something. I can't actually interact with Shadows, so when I learned _that_ I got so mad that I cut open a hole in space, just like you see here. Except..." She reached out her hand towards the portal and was able to put her hand on it, as if it was a wall.

"...this always happens. I can make these portals, but I can't ever go through them." She reared her hand back and punched the portal, the sound echoing through the valley.

"Nope. Still can't do it. You two, on the other hand, might be able to go through." Lydia walked up to the portal and tried sticking her hand in it. Her hand phased through it, the zebra stripes bending around her wrist. It felt like cool gel constantly flowing over her skin, and she pulled it out and looked to Allie. F.Z., on the other hand, was upset by this development, taking her chair and smashing it into a nearby quartz deposit.

" _Shit!_ Of _course_ it works for you, doesn't it? The only two actual people I get to meet in who knows _how the hell long_ and they're already going to leave me! That's just great, that's just _fucking dandy,_ isn't it?" The girl fumed, turning her back to Lydia and Allie.

"Go ahead, leave. Go back to your normal, everyday lives. You beat your Idol, and in Lydia's case you never had one to begin with. There's no reason for you to be here anymore, so go home and _leave me the fuck alone._ " F.Z. shook with anger as the two girls looked at each other.

"F.Z... what if I told you you'd see us again?" Lydia asked, which made the translucent girl stop shaking and turn around.

"What? Why do you want to come back? There's nothing here but Shadows! What, are you interested in trying to save other people that wind up in here?"

"I hadn't thought of that until you mentioned it. Honestly, I... just wanted to keep you company. You seem like you could really use some." F.Z. was speechless.

"Are you serious? You're not just screwing with me, are you? Trying to get my hopes up and shit?" Lydia shook her head.

"I know how to get in and out of this place now, and I have Ophelia to protect me from Shadows. If I can find the time, I'd be glad to spend some time with you." She raised a finger at Lydia, as if to argue the point, but dropped her arm and lowered her shoulders, sighing.

"You're _weird,_ you know that? If you really are serious... then call out to me whenever you show up again. This place is as quiet as a cemetery when there's no one around, and yeah, I know how ironic that sounds coming from me. I'll show up and I guess we can do something together."

"Yeah. That sounds nice. I promise, I'll be back. I can only speak for myself, though. Allie?" At the mention of her name, she put her hands behind her head – just like Damien, Lydia noticed.

"I guess... there's still so many things I want to know about this place. Yeah, alright. But I'm not coming here without her. I don't know how to use my Persona yet, and I don't think now is the time to learn how." She turned to the portal, and stuck her head through it.

"Hey, Lydia! This thing leads right back to where we came from! Come on, let's get going! Damien's probably freaking out right about now!"

 _Damien. Oh, man. How long were we in here? My phone doesn't work here, and I don't think any kind of watch would, either. He might have even called the cops by now!_

"Yeah, you're right. We'll be back, F.Z. I promise!" Allie stepped through the portal and Lydia followed, both girls emerging right where they had disappeared. Allie noticed that her video camera had started up again, continuing to record as if they had never left. She turned it towards herself and said,

"Well, this is going to look interesting in post. Electronics don't work over on the other side, but yeah. I made it there, and so did my friend Lydia. We've seen exactly what happens to those people that disappear and end up in the woods. They look into a mirror, see an idealized version of themselves called an Idol, and get drawn into this uncanny valley where some pretty crazy stuff happens. I'll tell you all about it in another video, but for now, Lydia and I have gotta recover from what we just went through. Catch you later." She stopped the recording and turned off the video camera, taking in a deep breath, looking up at the ceiling and closing her eyes.

"This has to be the most insane thing that's ever happened to me." Lydia made for the door and pushed it open, where Damien threw up his hands in surprise and put his phone away.

"What the hell happened to you two? You were both in there for like, an hour! Where's Allie? Is she still here?" His question was immediately answered as she came out of the door, and he proceeded to hug her so tightly that she dropped the marble-lined compact mirror on the floor.

"Ow! You're squeezing me too hard!" He let go and looked at her to make sure she was okay.

"What happened? The mirror thing worked, didn't it? You have to tell me _everything_ that happened. Don't leave out a single detail." Lydia rubbed her eyes and suddenly felt the weight of everything that had happened come crashing down on her at once, and now had trouble focusing on what was in front of her.

"I... I'm not really feeling well enough to do that right now. I'll tell you tomorrow, I have to get home and rest." Allie yawned behind her, feeling the same sort of fatigue settle in upon her.

"Yeah, I'm... exhausted. It's weird, though. I was just fine a minute ago. Come on, Damien. We have to go." Damien looked at both of them and realized they weren't kidding. Lydia in particular looked like she was about to pass out.

"Alright. Lydia, tomorrow's Saturday. We won't be at school." She rubbed her temples and sighed.

"Yeah, that's right. Uh. Look, just take my phone and put your contact info in it. I'll call you tomorrow." She gave her phone to him and he put in his info. While looking down, he noticed Allie's compact mirror and picked it up.

"Is this yours? This is a really fancy compact, did you just buy this?" Allie took it back and placed it into her pocket.

"It's from the other side. Again, I'll tell you later. We gotta go." They started to walk away, Damien looking back at Lydia.

"Okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow, then. Drive safe." She nodded, going towards the stairs and dragging herself as quickly as she could back to her car so she could go home. Gerald still had to be picked up from his friend's house, but she didn't think she was going to be able to do that.

 _I'm probably going to fall asleep as soon as I get home. I'll have to call my mom and ask her to do it, just this once. I really hope she'll understand._


	5. Chapter 5

**August 28, 2015 – Evening – Cloudy**

Lydia had explained to her mother that she wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be able to pick up her brother. Thankfully, she had understood and let her stay home. Of course, this meant that Gerald had asked her what had happened, since she was fine this morning. She gave him an excuse about how all the excitement from this week had tired her out, which wasn't too far from the truth, and decided to go to bed early.

She gave herself up quickly to the call of sleep, and found herself once again in the cushy chair of the Velvet Room. Igor and Victor were in the same place as before, except this time Victor was holding a thick, blue book with a fancy cover.

"Welcome back. It appears you have realized the power of Persona... and as such, it is now time for me to explain the services offered to you here. You have been given the power of the wild card, which means you are able to hold multiple Personas within yourself. When you are victorious in battle, you may see the seeds of opportunity flash before your eyes. It is up to you to choose which reward you will receive for your efforts... one of those rewards being another Persona that you may welcome into your heart. I am able to bring forth entirely new Personas from the depths of your soul by fusing two or more Personas together." Igor looked to Victor to continue.

"Each new Persona you obtain can be recorded here, in the Persona Compendium. Should you ever wish to call upon the power of a particular Persona once it has left your mind, you may do so from here for a fee. Behold, the Persona you currently have is already within." Victor opened the book to show Ophelia's image, beautifully illustrated as a tarot card with the word "Fool" and the number zero on it.

"The Fool..." Lydia said, wondering what that could mean.

"Yes. The Fool is one of many different Arcana that Personas can represent. Indeed, the Fool is associated with the number zero: something that is empty, but yet contains infinite possibilities within itself. This is the power my master has given you – the power to form bonds with others, and in doing so strengthening the Personas obtained by fusion. These bonds are known as Social Links. Yes, it is the power of your bonds that will determine the outcome of the future... so take care to nurture them accordingly." Igor said, nodding.

"I see. How many Arcana are there?" She didn't know anything about tarot cards, but given the size of the book Victor was holding, there were probably quite a lot. Victor answered the question.

"Normally, there are twenty-two different Arcana, ranging from the Fool to the World. However, they are not the only ones that may appear to you in your formation of bonds with others. It will be up to you how you go about nurturing these bonds; will you create as many different ones as you can, or will you focus on just a few? There is no right or wrong way to go about it. The only important thing is that whatever bonds you _do_ form, that you be sure to take good care of them. Your bonds will be your strength throughout your trial." Lydia contemplated what she had just heard. In just her first week here, she had already met so many new people... which meant there were just as many different bonds she could potentially form, too.

"I believe there is another amenity available to you here. Victor, if you would be so kind as to show it to her?" Igor spoke, his hand indicating the many rows of costumes to his right.

"Yes, of course. Please, follow me." Victor extended his gloved hand to her. She took it and he helped her out of the chair, and guided her to the rows of costumes. He snapped his fingers, and in a puff of white smoke, all of the blue-tinted clothing disappeared, leaving nothing but empty racks with empty hangers.

"The Velvet Room changes its form based on the needs of its guest. For you, it appears as a theater's dressing room – and no dressing room would be complete without the ability to change one's appearance. Whenever you are on the 'other side', you will be able to wear whatever clothes you keep here. You may even keep others' clothes here, if you so desire. I have dubbed it the Velvet Wardrobe." Victor grinned, as if it was the most clever idea he'd ever had. Lydia covered her mouth, trying not to laugh at how sincere he was about it.

"A private dressing room, huh... it's nice, but why is something like this here? How is it going to help me overcome my trial?" Victor nodded, and went over to one of the drawers installed as part of the vanity mirror setup. He pulled out a dress that had a similar style to his own clothing, with the Velvet Room's characteristic blue color combined with black-ringed yellow dots going down the middle of it, and put it on one of the empty hangers. He also pulled out a set of blue gloves and a large blue hat, before closing the top drawer and opening the larger bottom one. From that drawer, he took out a pair of very tall, thin blue boots and placed them on the floor.

When he was done, he grabbed the dress off of the rack, along with the hat and gloves, and presented them to Lydia.

"Allow me to demonstrate with these. When you fight, the power of your currently active Persona is what grants you most of your strength. However, it is not the only source of power available to you. One of my responsibilities is the formation and management of enchantments bound to clothing. Basically, for a fee I will be able to bestow power upon the clothes you bring to me, and subsequently you or your allies will be able to utilize that power whenever you are on the 'other side' by wearing a specific set of clothes." Victor handed her the clothes and walked over to the edge of the room, where a curtain lay compressed against the wall.

"Go ahead and put them on. Let me know when you're done." He worked the curtain closed, giving Lydia some privacy.

 _Is there supposed to be another assistant here, or something? Why would there be an outfit like this in here? Do they expect me to want to join them eventually, or something?_ Lydia wondered as she changed into the dress. She looked at herself in the mirror, and found that it fit her quite well. It was a form-fitting dress, meant to highlight her figure, with an unusually large collar that looked like a turtleneck that was too loose. She put on the gloves and the hat, and found herself wanting to say something like 'Welcome to the Velvet Room!', as if she herself was a resident. She tried to imagine herself with white hair and golden eyes, both vastly different from her brown hair and brown eyes, and shook her head at the silliness of the idea.

The boots turned out to have hidden zippers along the sides. Having never worn boots that high before, Lydia felt strange walking around in them and almost tripped as she walked over to the curtain and peeked through it.

"Okay. I'm done." Victor looked up from conversing with Igor, and went behind the curtain.

"Let's see... my, my. It fits even better than I imagined! You remind me of my little sister, Elizabeth. Of course, that's a logical conclusion to make, since it _is_ her clothing." She was wearing someone else's clothes? It must have been sheer luck or something that Elizabeth was the same size as her, or maybe Victor did some Velvet Room magic to make sure the outfit would fit no matter what.

"Are you sure she's okay with letting someone she's never met wear her clothes?" Victor chuckled.

"Oh, no. She hates it when people take her things. But no need to worry. She's gone on a journey and won't be back for quite a while. Anyways... please stand still, and I will show you how the enchantment process works." Lydia sighed, preferring not to think about the sibling rivalry those two must've had. She stood up straight and faced Victor. He closed his eyes and opened the Persona Compendium, drawing out a card with a mask imprinted on the back. From the card he drew forth streams of blue energy that enveloped the clothes Lydia was wearing, expending the card in the process. Once the energy faded, he closed the book and nodded.

"It is done. Do you feel it?" She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. A power like that of her Persona coursed through the clothing, giving her additional strength.

"Yes. That's pretty cool! So, do I have to be wearing the clothing I want to enchant? Because you said I could enchant allies' clothes, too... and not all of my friends are the same size as me."

"Oh, no. You don't have to be wearing them. As long as all the components are present, you may lay them out on the table and I can do the enchantment that way."

"What? Then why did you tell me to put this on?" Victor looked skittish, his golden eyes looking away from her.

"It's just... I haven't seen any of my three siblings in a great while. Seeing someone else wear their clothing helped me to remember them. I apologize if I have made you feel uncomfortable as a result of my selfishness."

 _That's far better than the **other** reason I had in mind... I guess if I hadn't seen **my** family in forever, I'd want a reminder too._

"It's okay. I understand why you did it, now. You said you had three siblings? One's Elizabeth, I know – what about the others?"

"Excuse me?" Victor seemed surprised at that question. Had he really not been expecting it?

"Your siblings. What are their names? Are they older or younger than you?"

"The oldest of us is Margaret. Then there is myself, then Elizabeth, and the youngest of us is Theodore, who we call Theo. Each of them have served the same role I am serving now, as assistants to guests like yourself." Other guests, huh? She wondered what kind of people they were. Were they also visited by Philemon? Did they have Personas, and Social Links, and the Velvet Wardrobe?

"Do you know anything about those other guests? What were they like?"

"I am afraid I am not allowed to discuss the details of the other guests. However, I will tell you this: each of them had a power similar to yours, and developed it until they were able to alter the course of fate with it. Master Philemon has always been judicious in who he gives power to; he would not have given you the power of the Beholder if he did not think you were capable of utilizing it to its fullest potential."

"Alter the course of fate... wow, that's... huge. I mean, are we talking about the entire world, or something? That sounds like a lot of pressure to put on an ordinary high school student... also, can I change back into my original clothes, now?"

"Oh, of course. We can still talk from across the curtain." Victor slipped through the curtain and continued talking as Lydia changed.

"Fate affects us all, in some way... but sometimes changing the fate of even one other person can have deep consequences that we will never see nor understand. What the other guests have done should not weigh upon you at all; you will go forth and fashion your own destiny, in a way that no one else can. Master Igor and myself can sense the future, but we cannot see exactly what lies in it. It is up to you and whoever you invite into your life to determine what that future will be." Lydia listened in silence as she changed back into her original clothes. She took a hanger from the rack and hung the dress upon it, and put the gloves, hat and boots back into the drawer.

She went through the curtain once more and decided to sit back down in the chair. It was all so much to take in, all at once, and now she felt herself nodding off, which was strange to her since she was already asleep in the real world.

"It appears that we have had quite a productive meeting." Igor spoke, the grin on his face stretching more than usual.

"The next time you come here, it will be of your own free will. Until then, farewell..." Lydia laid back in the chair and fell asleep once again, remembering that she still had the Velvet Key laying around somewhere.

* * *

 **August 29, 2015 – Saturday, Morning – Rainy**

It was mid-morning when Lydia opened her eyes again. Yesterday had taken quite a toll on her; normally she would be up a little earlier than this, but at least she was well-rested. She stretched and sat up in her bed, looking through the blinds and watching raindrops tap against her window. She didn't really pay that much attention to weather forecasts since she always had a compact umbrella with her whenever she left the house.

She got changed and went downstairs, seeing her parents watching a movie together in the living room.

"Good morning, honey! Did you sleep well?" Her mother said as she walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah. Do we have any eggs left?" She felt like making herself some scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. Hopefully her parents hadn't eaten all the eggs by now.

"We should! Check in the refrigerator, there should still be some." She opened the fridge and pulled out the carton of eggs, which felt nearly empty. Only two eggs left, which was just enough for her.

"I'm eating the last of the eggs!" Lydia declared as she got a clean pan and put it on the stove.

"Okay! We were going to get some more tomorrow, anyway." Her mother responded. Lydia then proceeded to make herself breakfast, and sat at the counter watching the living room TV from there. Her parents were watching some action flick that looked like it was from the '90s, which seemed like as good as anything to watch on a rainy day. Gerald was nowhere to be seen – he was probably playing some video game or watching TV in his room.

When she was finished, she went back up to her room and looked at Damien's contact info in her phone. His full name was Damien Hall, his last name having been unknown to her until now. He was certainly going to be awake by now, so she decided to lean by the window and call him.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Lydia. Did Allie tell you what happened yesterday?"

"Yeah. There's... there's way too many crazy things in that story for her to have made it up. I don't know what to think. She said that the both of you now have a Persona...? What is that, exactly?"

"I'm not entirely sure myself. It's supposed to be a part of my inner self, and it has these powers that allow me to fight and take more damage than I could without it. I mean, that thing I fought to save Allie – the Idol – hit my Persona, Ophelia, with a lightning bolt. Since we're both connected, any damage she takes is damage I take, too. I mean, people don't just get up from being hit with lightning, and it did _hurt_ a lot, but I was able to get back on my feet pretty quickly afterwards."

"Uh huh. And Allie told me that when you defeated this Idol thing, it turned into _her_ Persona. She said that you told her that yours just came to you without having to fight anything. Is that right?"

"Yeah. I think I had originally told her that it was because she was the one looking into the girls' restroom mirror and not me, but now I'm not so sure. I think it has to do with the special power I received right before I moved in here."

"Special power?" Damien took in a sharp breath, pausing.

"Oh, man. This is just getting more and more crazy. Okay, let's hear it. Tell me what you mean by this 'special power'." Lydia then told him about what had happened to her before her first day, summarizing Philemon's appearance and all the Velvet Room visits to Damien.

"This is just too much. I know you're not lying to me, and yet... I don't know, it's just so _much_ to take in!"

"Definitely. That's exactly how I feel about it. I mean, what have I gotten myself into? What I have gotten _Allie_ into? What are we meant to do with these powers? I don't know the answers to any of those questions." There was silence on Damien's end for a moment. He then cleared his throat and spoke again.

"You said you met a ghost girl, or something, called F.Z. Right before you returned, you told her that you'd be going back to see her."

"Uh huh..." His tone of voice made it sound like he was about to propose something.

"The next time you do that, you're taking me with you. I want, no, I _need_ to see that place for myself. I have to see it with my own eyes and prove to myself that everything you're telling me is for real."

"You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?" Lydia closed her eyes and listened to the pattering of the rain on her window.

"Not really, no. I know what you're thinking. What if my Idol shows up and puts me in a trance? What if what happened to Allie also happens to me? Well, I don't care about any of that, and you wanna know why? Because the both of you will be there. If something happens to me, I'll have two Persona-users ready and willing to bust my Idol down." He had a point. Two Persona-users were certainly going to be better than one, but... Allie and Damien really were birds of a feather, in that both of them wanted to dive headlong into danger. She sighed, placing her palm on her forehead.

"I would really appreciate it if you didn't take us for granted, Damien. Yes, if something happens, we'll help you. But you shouldn't have to put yourself in danger to begin with."

"Look at it this way, Lydia. When I talked to Allie the other day about what happened, she was different. Not different in a bad way, but she was... it was like she had realized who she was meant to be. She understood herself better, she came out of that experience a more mature individual. I'm not saying we should start doing this to everybody, but... I'm willing to put myself out there. I'm willing to take a risk and face down whatever's lurking in the pits of my soul if it means I'll turn out better for it. I'm not just blindly charging in. I have people I can trust that have my back when things turn rough – and yeah, that means you too. We might have only known each other for six days, but after what you did for Allie, you're worth trusting to me."

Suddenly, Lydia heard a noise like shattering glass right next to her ear. Time stopped, evidenced by the rainfall being paused and the pattering on the window silenced. A tarot card began to materialize in front of her, with the same back as the one Victor had used in the Velvet Room. The card shone with a faint radiance, and turned around to reveal the image of a sword laid on top of a wheel, on a light green background with an X at the bottom, the Roman numeral for ten. From within herself, she heard these words:

 **Thou art I... and I am thou...**

 **Thou hast established a new bond...**

 **In thee, the Beholder's sight grows ever clearer...**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Fortune Arcana...**

The card disappeared and time resumed, the rain resuming its course from cloud to ground.

 _So... this must be what a Social Link is. The bond between Damien and I has been given form as that card, the Fortune Arcana. There are at least twenty-two different Arcana, huh? I wonder which one Allie represents..._

"I'm sorry for being bull-headed. I know it's not exactly a good idea, but... I'm asking you to help me out. Will you do it?" Damien spoke, time never having stopped for him. He had trusted her with his life, essentially, that card being the proof of said trust. There was only one answer to give, in that case.

"Yes. I've got your back. Now... when are we going to do this?" They talked it out, adding Allie to the conversation so that they could find a time that all three of them were free so that they could go back to the valley together. It turned out, that between club activities and sports tryouts, that next Saturday would be the best time for them to get together.

"Got it. Labor Day Weekend, huh? My parents and my sisters will probably be out shopping for the tax-free discounts. I'll just tell 'em I've made plans with you guys instead. They won't mind, it's not like I'm the shopping type anyway." Damien said.

"Not unless it's something he's actually interested in," Allie said, laughing.

"Then he's just as bad as any girl."

"Yeah, well, I don't like wasting my time on stuff that isn't interesting. You tell me what I'm supposed to do when my mom and my sisters are hunting down cosmetics and I'm stuck playing coat rack with my dad."

"Okay. So September 5, the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend. We'll all meet at Damien's house." They all agreed on it and ended the call, leaving Lydia to wonder what else she was going to do with her day.

 _I guess I could get the history homework out of the way. There's not much else to do when it's raining outside..._


	6. Chapter 6

**August 31, 2015 – Monday, Early Morning – Cloudy**

The second week of school was already looking to be just as active as the first week; Lydia would find out whether or not she made the dance team, and if she didn't, there was still the volleyball team. Actually, even if she _did_ make the dance team, there was the possibility that volleyball would still be the better option...

"Homework sucks. Especially math homework. Wasn't math supposed to be just a bunch of numbers? Why are they throwing letters in it now?" Gerald complained as the two of them got into Lydia's car.

"The letters don't really have a specific meaning. They're basically like blank spaces, that get filled in with a number later on. It's why they're called _variables,_ because what they are can _vary_ based on what's next to them." Lydia explained to him as she pulled out of the driveway. Gerald pulled out his math homework and looked it over.

"Yeah? Why don't they just use blank spaces, then? That would make more sense!" Lydia took a moment while sitting at a stoplight to glimpse the contents of her brother's homework. His writing was decently legible, so she was able to make out very basic equations being solved for a single variable.

"Well, what if there's more than one variable? Those blanks would get harder to keep up with the more you worked through the problem." Gerald sighed, and vaguely remembered his algebra teacher providing an example of x + y = some number he didn't care about.

"I guess. I'm not even really interested in being an engineer or whatever. Right now, all I can think about is how awesome basketball is going to be. I'm pretty certain I made the freshman team, and if I do well enough, they might even put me on the junior varsity squad. That's the good stuff right there." Lydia pulled into the school's parking lot and parked the car.

"Just remember that you need to be passing all your classes if you want to stay on the team. Also, don't be afraid to ask me for help. I've done pretty well in my math classes, so if there's something you need explained, I'll do my best to help you." Gerald nodded, and put his math homework back in his backpack.

"I know. Not everybody gets to have a genius sister living right down the hall from them, after all. But just remember, _you_ offered. Don't get mad if I pop into your room at night asking for help on something that's really easy to you, 'kay?" Lydia chuckled, and decided to ruffle his hair.

"Hey, watch it! I'm not a little kid anymore, you know?" He said, opening the car door and getting out. As he reached down to grab his backpack from the floor of the car, he looked his sister in the eye and said:

"Anyways, I'll see you later. And... thanks for the help. It's good to know I can count on you." The sound of glass breaking echoed through Lydia's mind once again, and time stopped as the voice from Saturday began to speak again while another tarot card materialized in front of her. It turned around to reveal a black flame above a pair of hands and below a set of eyes and an infinity symbol, all set before a light blue plume of smoke, with the roman numeral for the number one at the bottom.

 **Thou art I... and I am thou...**

 **Thou hast established a new bond...**

 **In thee, the Beholder's sight grows ever clearer...**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Magician Arcana...**

 _It's not exactly a **new** bond, is it? I mean, he's my brother, I've known him longer than almost anyone else! Well, whatever. The Magician Arcana... I'm going to have to look these up one of these days and see what they all mean._

The flow of time resumed as the Magician card disappeared. Gerald picked up his backpack and closed the car door, walking off towards the school buildings. Lydia decided to look up information on her phone about the Arcana of the tarot on her way to class – if these Arcana were going to be the medium by which her bonds were codified, it would be to everyone's benefit that she knew what they were and what they meant.

 **Monday, Morning – Cloudy**

The bell rang just as Mr. Marshall finished his last sentence about the importance of remembering that each individual colony was essentially its own entity, with its own defining characteristics.

"Well, it seems we'll have to pick up from there tomorrow. We're doing quite well... I appreciate your continued attention. Have a good day." The students began to leave. All throughout the lecture, Lydia could hear a tiredness in her teacher's voice, and upon approaching his desk, could see that there were bags under his eyes that weren't present before.

"Yes? Did you need something... I'm sorry, your name was...?"

"Lydia."

"Lydia. Did you have a question about what we covered today?" She briefly looked away to see Damien and Allie waiting for her outside.

"No, but... are you doing okay?" He blinked, not expecting to hear that sort of question from a student. He cracked a smile for a moment as he responded.

"Heh. You kids aren't the only ones who stay up late sometimes. Well, thanks for your concern, but I'm fine. Now go on and get to your next class." She sensed that was the end of that conversation and moved on.

"What was that about? He had this stoic 'all business' face on throughout the whole lecture. What'd you say to him?" Damien asked as Lydia joined him and Allie.

"I just asked him if he was doing okay, and then he told me that we're not the only ones who stay up late sometimes."

"He _did_ look kinda tired. So, Lydia, what are you doing after school today? Do you think you might have an opportunity to come check out the eSports club?" Allie asked. Lydia had packed her gym clothes in case the opportunity to go to volleyball tryouts came up, but that was only if the dance team didn't work out.

"Not today. I have to see if I made the dance team, and if I didn't, the volleyball team is starting their tryouts today." Damien put his hands behind his head.

"Keeping it busy. Well, at least no one can tell you you're a slacker. Sometimes Reed gets on my case about that when she's feeling particularly emo." Emo? Reed? What was he talking about?

"Who's Reed, and why is she emo?" Lydia asked. Damien laughed, Allie rolling her eyes at the use of the word 'emo'.

"Ms. Reed, the librarian. I guess it's only fair that I warn you about her before you think about signing up for library work, since she's kinda the boss. She is like, a leftover remnant of the all the angst rock bands had in the '90s. She's pretty much convinced that we're all just waiting around to die, that life sucks, and that no matter what we do, that's never gonna change. Does her job well enough, though. Makes having to work in the library not so bad, at least in my opinion." A pessimistic librarian who was apparently stuck in the past, or something. Still not as bad as the girls from the dance team, Lydia thought.

"Uh huh. Well, thanks for the heads up."

 **Monday, After School – Sunny**

 _It's time to face the music. Literally. I can already hear it from here._

Lydia sighed, noticing the large group of girls all waiting by the doors to the practice room. The music was just the radio muffled by the doors, which was abruptly shut off before the doors opened and a blonde woman in a navy blue tracksuit came out with a folder.

"Coach! You're back! Are you alright now? It's good to see you're out of the hospital!" One of the older girls greeted the woman, who acknowledged her with a nod before turning to address all the hopefuls that stood before the doors.

"Thanks, and it's good to see so many new faces. Unfortunately, this may be the only time we ever see each other like this, as not all of you have made the cut. So, I'm going to call the names of everyone who made it, and if you don't hear your name called, then I'm sorry, but you didn't make it this year." The coach opened her folder and went down the list, which was alphabetically ordered such that Lydia didn't hear her name being called until almost the very end.

"Lydia White. And last but not least, Dawn Windsor. Congratulations to all our new Falconettes! We'll be waiting for you to get changed and join the rest of us shortly."

 _And there it is. Looks like I'll getting back into dancing for real after all..._

"So, looks like you made it. You weren't half bad, I'll admit." Dawn had decided to strike up a conversation with Lydia as the girls changed into their dancing outfits.

"You were pretty good yourself. Actually, why did you even need to go through the tryouts again? Aren't you one of the lieutenants?" Dawn smiled and narrowed her eyes at her, which was actually more intimidating than any sort of facial expression Carla could probably make.

"You'd think so, right?" Dawn looked around at the other girls. She could tell that most of them were trying to hide the fact that they were looking at her, that they were listening to her, but she knew that trying to act like you didn't care only made it more obvious that you did.

"I have what it takes to be the captain of this squad. Carla thinks she's hot stuff because she's good at sucking up to people, and it's because of that that I've never been promoted to my rightful place. I've let her get away with it for long enough. So, this year, I'll finally convince Coach Carter to quit listening to Carla's _bullshit_ about me. And as for all of you? You better not take _her side,_ or else I'll make you regret it." The other girls quickly finished changing and left the room, until just Lydia and Dawn remained.

 _This is just classic high school drama. Why should anyone care so much about being the captain of a high school dance team? Both Carla and **this girl** have some serious issues. I wonder how many real friends they actually have..._

"That goes for you too, new girl. Don't cross me, or else I'll plunge your reputation into the gutter." With that parting remark, Dawn left the changing room.

 _I'm not afraid of you. I have a Persona!_

The first practice was mostly a series of warm-ups, to help the returning members get back into form and to introduce the new members to the routines of the squad. Lydia noticed that for all the trash talk she spouted, Dawn was very committed to practice, even sticking around to rehearse on her own after the coach had declared the practice over for the day.

"Hold on a sec, Lydia. I want to talk to you about something." Carla had waited around for the rest of the girls to leave, apparently having noticed that Lydia took longer than the others to get changed. The two of them were alone in the changing room, with the sounds of Dawn's steps barely audible outside.

"Did Dawn tell you she was gonna overthrow me?"

"You already know about that, huh?" Carla sighed, shaking her head and undoing her ponytail, showing off her dyed red hair.

"She's said it the last two years, too. Even when we were freshmen, she was going on about how she'd make lieutenant in no time flat. She really thinks she's got what it takes to be a leader, which has got to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. She thinks that because she's a good dancer means that she deserves to be captain. I think we all know how stupid that is. Coach Carter certainly agrees, and her word is final." She had a point, even if her way of communicating it was laden with insults. Talent alone wasn't enough to make someone a leader; they also had to be able to get people to work together to accomplish a common goal, a concept Dawn seemed to not understand.

"So how did you get to be captain? What made the coach pick you over everyone else?" Lydia asked, looking down at the shorter girl. Carla crossed her arms and smiled, narrowing her dark brown eyes at her newest squad member.

"It's really simple. It's not just because I'm a good dancer. Growing up, my parents told me that I should never have to put up with disrespect from _anybody._ People respect someone who doesn't just sit there and put up with another person's shit-talking. That's why I always get what I want, sooner or later. I know I'm worth it, and I make sure everyone around me knows it too." Lydia got the feeling that this wasn't something she told just anybody, and once again, the sound of shattering glass was heard in her mind. This time, the tarot card turned around to reveal a kind of black vase-like object with what was possibly the hilt of a sword inserted at its opening, with a crown on top and the Roman numeral for three printed at the bottom.

 **Thou art I... and I am thou...**

 **Thou hast established a new bond...**

 **In thee, the Beholder's sight grows ever clearer...**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Empress Arcana...**

 _The Empress Arcana. Supposedly, it has to do with queens or mothers of some kind. Perhaps in some twisted way, Carla **does** represent these things, and the more I get to know her, the more it'll become apparent to me how that makes sense._

Time resumed its normal flow as the Empress card disappeared.

"So that's why I don't really consider Dawn a threat anymore. You, though..." Carla pointed her index finger at Lydia, stopping just an inch or so from her face.

"You're a new upperclassman. You don't have any sort of reputation yet, since you just got here. That means it'd be very easy for someone to start all sorts of rumors about you. And as long as you remain on my good side, you won't have anything to worry about. In fact, I think we might actually be pretty good friends." Carla pulled back her finger and turned to open the door to the changing room.

"See you next time." The redhead left, and Lydia watched as she walked by the dancing Dawn and left the practice room without even giving her a glimpse. She wondered if there wasn't a way to make the two not hate each other.

 _That's probably asking too much. I doubt anything I can do is going to undo several years of bad blood between them. I guess I should just be glad I have Carla's respect... for now, anyway._

 **Monday, Evening – Clear**

Now that she'd made the dance team and went to the first practice, one of the unknowns regarding her schedule had officially been filled. There was practice every weekday after school, and Lydia knew that skipping a day would definitely not go over so well with Carla.

 _I don't know how much of her feud with Dawn I'm going to be able to put up with, though. I wonder if I really have to go to **every single practice.** I want to check out Allie's club, and maybe even do some library work just to see if what Damien said about the librarian being emo was true._

She grabbed Junebug as she turned over in her bed. The old ladybug pillow had long since lost his fluffy softness, and now felt more like a hard cushion. Even after all these years, he still had that woven-in smile on his face. That, at least, had never changed.

"Why do girls have to be so horrible to each other? Why can't we all just get along?" She asked the stuffed animal. She couldn't think of anything he would say in response, and placed him beside her pillow.

"No comment, huh. Well, at least Allie doesn't seem to be like that." She yawned, and pulled the covers over herself.

"I'll make time for her. With you as my witness, Junebug, I promise I'll make time for her."

* * *

 **A/N: Wow, thanks for all the reviews, Sraosha! I appreciate all your comments. As far as all the various Social Links go, I don't think there'll be exactly ten scenarios for each one. Whatever is necessary to flesh out the associated character(s) and make the bond believable is what I'm going to write. This also means that the individual rank-ups won't be explicitly noted as the story goes on, at least not until the respective Link is maxed.**

 **Good to see you again, Search720p. Plot progress is always good.**

 **In other news... my house nearly flooded the other day. Were it not for that, this chapter would've been out earlier. Nature is fickle, and water is wet.**


	7. Chapter 7

**September 1, 2015 – Tuesday, Early Morning – Sunny**

As Gerald left the car to go to his first class, Lydia sat in her car for a moment and reached into her pocket. She pulled out the Velvet Key and realized that for all the information Igor and Victor had given her last time she was there, the one thing they'd neglected to tell her was how to use the key to return to the Velvet Room.

 _That first time I was there, Igor said I'd come across different spots where I'd be able to use the key to return. I haven't actually seen any of these yet, have I? I guess since I haven't gotten any new Personas nor clothes to give to Victor to enchant, there wouldn't really be anything for me to do there. Well, I'll keep an eye out anyway._

 **Tuesday, Morning – Sunny**

Before Mr. Marshall's class began, Lydia had decided to tell Damien and Allie about the Velvet Wardrobe. As she walked in, she noticed Allie wearing a black sleeveless shirt with the bright pink image of what was known as a "magical girl" from some anime she'd never heard of on it, with the same jean shorts as before and her hair done in a side ponytail instead of a bun. Damien seemed to have another variation on his typical outfit, with another graphic tee depicting an 8-bit video game character and black skinny jeans.

"Hey." Lydia sat down next to Allie, as usual.

"Morning! So, did you make the dance team after all?"

"Yeah, I did. It looks like it's already going to be full of drama, though. There are these two girls that are each other's rivals and they're both pulling on my arms as one of the new girls to join their side." Damien suppressed a laugh and decided to offer a comment.

"I don't suppose you could summon Ophelia to scare 'em off, could you?"

"I've never tried to call my Persona in the real world. Even if I can, I don't think I want anyone out of our little circle knowing about it. It should be on a need-to-know basis." Lydia didn't want any strange rumors to pop up regarding the incident last Friday; if people found out that staring into a mirror was what caused them to disappear, more people would inevitably go missing.

"You're right. We'll just keep it to ourselves." Allie said, now wondering about whether or not Personas could be summoned outside of the valley. She hadn't called Medusa once since obtaining her, though she could feel her presence resting somewhere in her mind. Lydia put her hand on her pocket, feeling the Velvet Key inside as she spoke to her friends.

"There's something I need to tell the both of you. It has to do with our plans for Saturday." At that moment, Mr. Marshall walked into the classroom as the warning bell sounded.

"Never mind. It can wait until lunch." Lydia reached into her backpack and pulled out her things for class. Mr. Marshall opened his desk and pulled out a marker, and decided to twirl it between his fingers for a moment before speaking to the students already assembled.

"Since I have a moment before class officially begins, I would like to share with you all a short story summarizing what happened to me as I was on my way here." He turned to the whiteboard and quickly drew a set of lines that formed what looked like a street intersection. He then drew a rectangle with the letter 'A' inside of it, diagonally on the line representing the road as if it was a car getting onto it, and then another rectangle with the letter 'B' inside of it, this one positioned at a slant in the middle of the street.

"If you are up early enough such that you have the time to pick up a meal on the way to school, please remember that operating a motor vehicle is a _two-handed_ endeavor. As such, trying to drink freshly prepared coffee while turning out of a parking lot as the car at position A is in may result in the spilling of your coffee and the subsequent loss of control of your vehicle, ending up in the position B is currently in." He then drew another vehicle further down the street and marked it 'C', drawing an awkwardly-shaped arrow going around the car marked B.

"This means anyone in the position C will then have to swerve around your egregious mistake, possibly causing a set of collisions involving multiple cars. Thankfully, I and the other drivers behind me were paying attention and were able to get around in time. Please let this be a lesson to you: do _not_ attempt to consume anything while executing precision driving maneuvers!" Mr. Marshall erased the diagram and waited for the tardy bell to ring before starting his lecture, which Lydia noticed was more densely packed in information than usual. It was clear that some people were struggling to keep up with the speed of the lecture, but once he got going, Mr. Marshall didn't stop until the bell forced him to.

"I realize that today might have been especially trying on some of you. Think of it as a little taste of the college experience. There are some professors out there that will not stop for anyone. Anyways, the homework for this week is on the board, so make sure you've written it down before you leave."

 _I can't be the only one thinking this was his passive-aggressive way of taking out his frustration from this morning on us. Well, as long as it doesn't happen too often, I guess I can understand..._ Lydia let out a breath to calm herself down as she gathered her things and left with Damien and Allie.

 **Tuesday, Lunchtime – Sunny**

"So, what were you going to tell us before Mr. Marshall decided to go into overdrive with the history lessons today?" Damien asked, taking a sip from his soda. Lydia pulled out the Velvet Key from her pocket and placed it on the table.

"You know how I told you about the Velvet Room? The place that's all blue with the long-nosed guy, Igor, and the butler lookalike Victor? Well, this is the key to that place. There are supposed to be doors to it that only I can see, but I haven't seen any yet. I think it's because there isn't much of a need for me to go there right now... which brings me to what I actually wanted to tell you two. So, one of the things I can do in there is take sets of clothes to Victor and have him enchant them. It's not limited to just me; he said I could do the same for any outfits my allies have." Damien put his hands behind his head and thought about the image of Lydia presenting a set of clothes to a magic butler for enchantment purposes.

"That almost sounds too hilarious to be true, but... well, you _do_ have the key to show for it, if nothing else." He tried to pick up the key, but found his fingers phased through it. He looked around to make sure no one else saw that, and then leaned in closer to them and muttered,

"You saw that, right? Tell me you saw that." Looking around to see that everyone else was occupied in their own conversations, Allie casually reached her hand out as if to sweep the key towards her, feeling nothing but air as her hand also phased through the ornate key.

"Yeah, I saw that, and _didn't_ feel it either. How is that possible?" Lydia reached out and gripped the handle of the key in her hand. It felt as tangible as the table her wrist was resting on.

"Wild card." She said to herself, unaware that her friends could hear her.

"Wild card? What's that mean?" Damien asked. Lydia blinked in surprise, deciding to put the Velvet Key away before somebody else noticed it and tried to touch it.

"It's what Igor called the power to wield multiple Personas. Anyways, don't worry about the key. Listen, what I want you two to do is pick out an outfit that you want to wear on Saturday when we go to the other side. I'll take the clothes to Victor and he can do his magic on them. It'll be an extra layer of protection for us over there." Damien raised his eyebrows at Allie with a look of knowing on his face, which she narrowed her eyes at and then chuckled, understanding his wordless message. Lydia watched this exchange and felt like she was about to be roped into something.

"It looks like you just invited yourself to our next shopping spree, then!" Allie grinned.

"And if we're going to do this thing on Saturday, logic would dictate that you come along with us on Friday, after school. The Halborne Mall may not exactly be one of those fancy Houston malls, but I think you'll find something you like there."

 _Sounds like a great idea. I actually haven't had an opportunity to see what else this place has to offer. Not to mention I'll probably need an outlet for my stress if the Falconette drama is going to be a regular thing..._

"Alright. Yeah, I've never been there before. Allie, where does the eSports club meet? I can go over there after I'm done with dance practice, and Damien can probably show up there too."

"It's over in the other building, on the East Wing. That's where all the clubs that don't already have their own dedicated places meet. Yeah, that sounds fine to me. Damien's not doing anything after school, anyway." The young man in question put his hands behind his head and smiled.

"Yeah, well... no one's gonna want to go to the library on a Friday, anyway. I guess I'll spend some time reveling in my Bronze ranking amongst all the other Bronzies."

"Then it's settled, then. We're spending our Friday night at the Halborne Mall." The sound of shattering glass punctuated the stopping of everything around Lydia as a card with what looked to be some kind of nomadic figure with a dog following it and the number zero at the bottom revealed itself to her.

 **Thou art I... and I am thou...**

 **Thou hast established a new bond...**

 **In thee, the Beholder's sight grows ever clearer...**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Fool Arcana...**

 _This is my Arcana, isn't it? Am I the Fool because I let myself get caught up in all sorts of fun and interesting things? Does that make me someone to be pitied, I wonder? Ha ha ha, oh. I guess I can't help it, though... it's that kind of openness to spontaneity that makes life fun!_

* * *

 **September 4, 2015 – Friday, Early Morning – Sunny**

"Hey, you look kinda... happier than usual. You didn't go and get a boyfriend already, did you?" Lydia burst out laughing at her younger brother's preposterous suggestion, which made him laugh in response.

"Oh my gosh! No, Gerald! I'm just going with my friends to the mall here, that's all!" She looked behind her to make sure there weren't any oncoming cars before pulling out of the driveway.

"Ohhhhh, okay. So, who are these friends of yours, anyway? You've never told me anything about 'em."

"I met them on the first day, right before my first class. Their names are Damien and Allie, and they themselves have been friends for a while. Allie's in the eSports club and Damien works as a library volunteer. We have a lot of the same classes together." Gerald nodded in understanding, and then looked forward at the stop sign before looking back at his sister.

"You mean the Halborne Mall, right? Betsy told me there were a couple of places in Houston that were way better than that one. What was the name of one of them? The Rhapsodia, or something? I told her that sounded like the name of a fancy theater or a cruise ship or something, and she told me that it had all sorts of cool stuff in it, like an ice rink, a movie theater, and a hotel. Not to mention a bunch of really expensive stores, like the 'I'm so rich I can buy and sell you plebs' kind. She said the Halborne Mall was pretty crappy in comparison." Lydia remembered the name Betsy from last week – apparently she was this cute sophomore Gerald had met during his lunch hour.

 _If he thought he could get away with a stupid boyfriend comment, let's see how he reacts to me teasing him about Betsy!_

"So, you said Betsy was a sophomore, right? I didn't know you were into older women! I guess my little brother really _is_ growing up after all..."

"W-what? Hey, I didn't _know_ she was a sophomore at first! I thought she was my age! And yeah, you bet I _am_ growing up."

"Tell me about her! What does she like?" Gerald racked his brain for the answer to that question, and inhaled deeply before speaking. Lydia prepared herself for a torrent of words.

"TV dramas, for one. See, she's into some of the more girly ones, like _Red's Hospital_ and _Sisters of Falsehood,_ but then she told me she was also into _Sinister._ Now there was something we could talk about, because I've been watching _Sinister_ since the first episode. You remember it, it's about that detective who made a pact with the devil in exchange for super-sleuth powers. Yeah, she said she'd recently gotten into it and was wondering exactly how all the stuff in the current season came to be, so I told her she should get on Zulu and watch the past episodes for free. She said that she didn't really have the time to watch all that, though, so instead she asked me to just summarize what happened, which I did. It took me that whole rest of that lunch period to do, though, but I think she really appreciated it. Uh, what else does she like... she likes cats, she has a tabby one at her house that likes to bother her a lot. I think you already know she likes to shop, which isn't really something we have in common, but that's something. Yeah, she has an older brother and a younger sister, the brother's already in college and the sister's just starting middle school this year. She seemed real interested when I told her you were on the dance team, and then she told me she'd considered trying out for the cheerleading squad, but always chickened out at the last minute. I asked her why and she said something about how she wasn't very good at choreography and that she didn't have the spirit that the cheerleaders had, or something. She didn't really want to talk about it after that, though." Gerald paused of his own accord without Lydia having to stop him first.

 _It's not because we're already here. He'd finish his spiel before going, which means... I think he's disappointed that Betsy isn't going for what she wanted to do. But now that he's stopped, I should say something before he starts up again._

"If she doesn't want to talk about it anymore, don't bother her about it. If she wants to tell you about it later on, she will." Gerald let out an impatient breath through his nostrils and waited for Lydia to park the car.

"I don't get it. She would make a great cheerleader. Well, fine. There's plenty of other stuff we can talk about, anyways." He got out of the car and took his backpack out of the backseat.

"So, if you're going to go to the mall with your friends... wait a second. I just got an idea." Lydia already knew what it was before the words left his mouth.

"If you're thinking that you want me to drive you and Betsy to the mall, that's fine... but you have to tell her that the both of us are tied up with sports until later. Do you know if she's involved in any sort of extracurricular activity? Otherwise, she'll leave as soon as school lets out, and that means we're better off going home and dropping off our stuff since I'll have to drive out to her house or something to get her. And this is all assuming she even wants to go. Are you still going to want to come with me if she's not going?" He waved his hand at her like he was swatting away a mosquito.

"Of course. I haven't seen the mall either. I'll text you whether or not she says yes. Alright, I gotta go. See you later." Gerald walked off towards the school buildings. To her knowledge, he'd never really shown that much interest in girls throughout middle school. He was the kind of person that definitely would've said something if a girl caught his interest, considering that he would easily tell anyone about the things he found interesting. She supposed it was due to being so involved in basketball and hanging out with his friends so much, friends that were always groups of other boys.

He was definitely a speak before thinking type, which contrasted her tendency to think before speaking. That meant that while he had no problem talking to people, he was quite likely to say or do the wrong thing and not realize it until after the fact, if at all. Which meant that, if not soon, then at some point she felt she'd have to teach him about how to talk to girls.

 _All in good time, little brother. All in good time._

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for the review, mightymareep98. Glad to hear you like it.**

 **This chapter and the next were supposed to be one whole chapter, but it got too long for my liking. Hence, I split it into two. It's just an organizational thing; I've found that 5,000 words per chapter is a reasonable limit for me to stick to in most cases.**


	8. Chapter 8

**September 4, 2015 - Friday, After School – Sunny**

Dance practice went by quicker than usual, owing to the Labor Day weekend making everyone antsy. Towards the end of the practice, Coach Carter gathered the girls and spoke to them about the upcoming football schedule; the first home game was next Friday, which also meant the team's first performance was next Friday as well. From here on, Lydia's schedule as far as after school was concerned would likely be consumed by the dance team.

Dawn had left at around the same time as most of the other girls, for one reason or another not deciding to stick around as she typically did. Lydia was checking her phone to see if her brother had texted her yet, and found his message waiting for her.

"hey betsy told me shes goin wit her oter friends. We might see ech other their tho." Gerald was perfectly capable of spelling those words correctly, and he knew it. He was just too impatient to bother. Lydia texted him back the following message:

"Fine. I'll see you later at the car, then." She put her phone away as the last of the girls left for the day, except for Carla.

"You've been keeping up real well, Lydia. I'm impressed. This isn't your first rodeo, I see." Lydia wondered why the captain of the dance team would deliberately wait for everyone else to leave _just_ so she could speak to her privately. Did she not want to be seen talking to a nobody, or what?

"I was on the dance team at my last school. I know more or less how it goes."

"Where are you from, anyway?" Carla asked.

"Crystal Rapids. I don't blame you if you've never heard of it; it's nowhere close to here." Only now did Carla decide to start changing out of the dance team's uniform, which was a form-fitting garment with the school's colors, red, white, and blue, distributed along it in a method that looked reasonably good.

"Yeah, Texas has a million little towns like that. Well, whatever they taught you in Crystal Rapids wasn't half bad. Do that well at the game next Friday and I could definitely see you making lieutenant." Carla's regular clothes highlighted her taste for red and its associated colors; a crimson blouse with a similarly colored skirt, with a pair of brown flats and a thin silver necklace with a cross on it.

"How good is our football team? I haven't looked up their records or anything." Carla motioned for Lydia to follow her out of the changing room, and the two girls walked across the practice room as Carla answered.

"They're not bad. They've had a winning record ever since the school started out, but it's never been impressive enough to send them to the state championships, or anything. You won't be bored watching them play, at least." Carla opened the door and was greeted by a large football player still in his gear sans helmet holding a green folder in his hands.

"Oh, y'all are already done? I was looking for Coach Carter. She in her office?" The football player towered over the two girls, his size made even more imposing by his football pads. He had messy brown hair and green eyes, and looked down at Carla for the answer to his question.

"Yeah, she felt like letting us off early today because of Labor Day. I'm pretty sure that means we're going to have to stay later than usual next week, but I'm fine with that. Why are _you_ here, though? Isn't football practice still going on?" The football player sighed and nodded, looking down the hall towards the dance coach's office.

"Coach Hudson needed somebody to go give this to her ASAP. I don't know what it's in it, but I guess she will." He shifted his gaze to fall on Lydia, who he acknowledged with an upward nod.

"You must be one of the new dancers. Name's Nathan. What's yours?"

"Lydia. What position do you play? I'm guessing something on defense." Nathan turned over the folder in his hands.

"Defensive tackle. Coach is training us up to be 'sturdy as bulls', he says. He's also as stubborn as a damned bull, too. Alright, I gotta go give this to Coach Carter. I guess I'll see you two at the game next week. Good luck with your routines." He said before walking off down the hall. Carla walked with Lydia in the other direction and spoke about the football player they'd just run into.

"Nathan Young. He used to be a decent player. Used to be. For some reason or other he started sucking really bad in his last few games last year, which meant the other teams got a lot farther than they should've and contributed to the team's string of losses towards the end of the season. I bet you Coach Hudson is making him work extra hard so that doesn't happen again. Hopefully it works out."

"Yeah." The two girls reached the exit of the building, the point where they typically parted ways for the day. Carla parked on the other side of the parking lot relative to Lydia, which for her meant that she didn't have to walk all that far.

"Well, I'll see you around. Don't go getting sick or anything, we need everyone _here_ for the game next week. You got that?"

"I'll try not to come down with anything."

"Good. Later."

 **Friday, Evening – Clear**

The Halborne Mall turned out to be a reasonably sized establishment, being a one-story mall with a lot of other establishments surrounding it. There seemed to be a lot of people around, likely because the weekend had officially started. Damien and Allie had told Lydia to park on the eastern side of the parking lot, since it was the one closest to the food court. Being close to the food court meant that it was also nearly full, which meant Lydia had to park on an edge space facing the street.

"Oh, I like this already. Come on, let's go!" Gerald said as he beheld all the people going into the food court section of the building. The two of them went in and saw Damien and Allie sitting at one of the tables close to the doors.

"Hey, Lydia! Who's this?" Damien asked, looking up from his seat at the wiry freshman.

"This is my brother, Gerald. Gerald, this is Damien and Allie."

"Hey." Allie waved at him.

"I hope I didn't keep you two waiting long. This place is pretty packed." Lydia looked around and saw lines in front of every single one of the food establishments, though the ones that served Asian food had slightly shorter lines.

"Nah, don't worry about it. Come on, let's go get something to eat." Damien and Allie stood up from their chairs and the four of them dispersed to get the food item of their choice. Once the four of them had finished eating, they left the food court so that Damien and Allie could show the White siblings around the mall.

"So, I don't know how much you're into this stuff, but let's start with my personal favorite: Burning Words." Damien pointed to a store with a primarily black motif, tinged with shades of red at random points along what parts of the wall were actually visible underneath the racks of graphic t-shirts. Lydia wasn't sure she'd find something she liked in there, but she was certainly willingly to give it a look first.

After about twenty minutes, the group left Burning Words, with Damien holding a bag with another graphic t-shirt in it. Lydia had seen it as he took a matching size out of the pile of neatly stacked t-shirts: a white t-shirt with the image of a phoenix being consumed in its own flames on it. Allie hadn't found anything new that she liked, and Gerald had spent his own money on a t-shirt with the main character of _Sinister,_ Detective Aster, on it. Damien had noticed it and the two of them were still talking about it even as the group was leaving the store.

"How about we go to Everlasting next? I think there's probably something more your style there, Lydia." Allie suggested, as Gerald's head turned to notice a certain small blonde-haired girl with a green bow in her hair talking to a couple of other girls at least a head taller than her.

"We'll talk about that later, Damien. Betsy! Hey, it's me, Gerald!" He immediately broke off from the group to go over to her, and her eyes widened in surprise as he came up to her and her friends.

"Who's this? Do you know this guy, Betsy?" One of the girls beside the short blonde asked. She looked away from Gerald to the people he had just been walking alongside and sighed.

"Yeah, I do. You came with your sister and her friends, huh?"

"Mmhm! These must be the friends you told me about earlier. How's it going?" The two girls looked at each other in apprehension, clearly not having expected this random boy to run up to them and start speaking. One of them, a brunette with highlights in her hair, decided to respond.

"We're... fine. Uh, we're about to go to Valerie's Treasures, so..." Betsy took the cue from her friend and decided to finish the sentence.

"...so I don't really think you'd want to go with us to a store that sells all girl stuff. I'll see you at school, okay? We can talk then." The small blonde began to walk in the opposite direction that Lydia's group was going in.

"Cool! I'll see you at school – it was nice seeing you here!" Betsy turned to him and waved goodbye, which put a huge smile on his face as he returned to his sister and her friends.

"Okay, I'm back. Sorry about that, it was just I didn't know if I was actually gonna see her at all or not." Damien wanted to ask him a bunch of questions about what had just happened, but Lydia got a word in first.

"So, _that_ was Betsy, huh? You always did like the cute ones... and she looked _really_ cute." Gerald sighed and looked down at the ground, embarrassed.

"C'mon, sis. Not in front of your friends, huh? Let's just go already." Allie chuckled a little and Damien gave him a proud smile, before starting up another conversation with Gerald about anime.

Everlasting was a large store that had a prominently ivory color motif, with touches of gold incorporated throughout. Aesthetically, it seemed like very much the opposite of Burning Words, which was a much smaller store and had its merchandise densely concentrated in that small space. Since there was no men's fashion to be found inside, Gerald and Damien had elected to sit on a bench outside.

"Now this is more like it." Lydia said, thinking about what kind of clothing she wanted to wear in case she had to fight Shadows tomorrow. Ideally, it would be something that would be easy to move around in and wasn't too loose, lest it get caught on something. Within those restrictions, there was still plenty of fashionable choices for her...

"Allie. You remember what we're doing tomorrow, right?" Allie nodded, and looked around the store's various sections.

"Yeah. We're probably looking for something functional. Um... well, there's a lot that could still work here. I'll follow your lead, though. I want to see what you pick." Lydia led her to a section full of dresses, and looked amongst the ones that were around knee-length. Allie remained quiet as Lydia silently considered the selection before her. A golden-colored dress with a ripple-like pattern woven into the top stood out to her, and Lydia pulled it off of its rack and showed it to Allie.

"How about this?" She held it up to herself.

"That looks good. Huh... I sort of expected you to pick something else. But then again, it's not like we're the ones who are going to be doing the actual fighting if it comes down to it." Lydia wondered what Allie had thought she was going to pick out. The dress seemed fine to her, and Allie already knew the whole reasoning as to why they didn't have to be _too strict_ about what they picked out.

"What did you think I was going for? Something a little less... flowy?" Allie shrugged and pretended to look at some of the dresses on the rack next to her.

"Maybe. Um... well, actually, I was going to go with whatever kind of clothing you had chosen. I just didn't think it would be something that nice." Lydia sensed that there was something Allie wasn't telling her. Rather than using her choice as a springboard to tell her what she was going to look for, it's like she had hoped it was going to be something else besides a dress.

"You don't think a dress would suit you?" Allie's eyes widened, and Lydia knew she'd hit the point. Allie put her hands together and looked down at the ground.

"Well, it's just... the last time I wore a dress was to last year's homecoming dance. It's not that I _mind_ the idea of wearing a dress, it's that the idea of doing it casually like this makes me nervous. I'm always used to t-shirts and shorts."

"You don't _have_ to wear the same kind of thing as me. You should be comfortable with what you're wearing." Allie looked up at Lydia, her hands still folded together.

"I know. But do you remember what I said to my Idol? I said that I still needed to work on being more comfortable with myself, on being better at expressing myself. This is one of the ways I can do that. I can get used to it, it's just... I felt I needed you to help me get started on it."

 _There it is. That's the reason. Now it all makes sense..._

"Alright. I guess this also means you'd like me to help you find something, too. I have no problem with that. Come on, I'm sure we can find something that you'll feel good in." Given that many of Allie's outfits incorporated a contrast between dark and light colors, something along those lines would probably appeal to her. Lydia managed to find a dress that had a black-and-white diamond pattern on it, and showed it to Allie.

"What do you think of this?" Allie looked at it, imagining how it might've looked on her and how it felt to wear.

"I like it."

"Then let's go try these on. Come on!" Lydia led Allie to the changing rooms, where they both changed into the dresses Lydia had picked. Lydia stepped out first, noticing that Allie was still inside.

"How does it look?"

"It's... really good!" Allie opened the door and showed herself to Lydia. She looked ecstatic in that diamond-patterned dress, smoothing it out on herself and constantly looking down at herself in wonder.

"I'm still not used to this, but... I really like how it feels. You really seem to know your fashion, Lydia. And you know what that means, right?" Lydia took a breath, as if to answer the question, but then decided against it, letting out the breath.

"It means that you're going to be my fashion consultant. Whenever I want to wear something like this, I'll ask you for advice. Really! That dress looks so natural on you, too."

"We can keep on looking for more, if you want. Personally, this is all I need for right now."

"Yeah. You said Victor does one entire outfit at a time, which means if we got anything more, I'd have to choose between them. And... well, actually, this dress isn't as expensive as I thought. It's not much more than I'd pay for one of my t-shirts. Cool!"

"I only have so much money myself. I don't think I can afford another piece of clothing right now, either. Well, I think we got what we came for. Let's change back and go." Allie nodded, and then looked at herself and Lydia once again, imagining them in the valley of quartz fighting Shadows wearing their dresses. If her video camera actually worked on the other side, she would've loved to have filmed _that._

"Lydia?"

"Yes?"

"Just... thanks. I really appreciate you helping me with this." Lydia heard the sound of shattering glass and already knew what was going to happen, and watched as the tarot card appeared before her and turned around to reveal a lantern casting a golden glow amidst dark red colors, with a single half-lidded eye underneath it. The Roman numeral for nine appeared at the bottom of the card.

 **Thou art I... and I am thou...**

 **Thou hast established a new bond...**

 **In thee, the Beholder's sight grows ever clearer...**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Hermit Arcana...**

 _The Hermit... representing solitude, introspection, a willingness to be on one's own a lot of the time. Allie does try a lot to be independent, and if Damien wasn't in her life, I could definitely see her just doing her own thing without really thinking about involving anyone else. That'll be interesting._

Time resumed its normal flow, and the girls changed back into their previous outfits, bought their clothes, and left the store. Damien and Gerald were still talking as the girls approached them, only stopping when they were close enough to be heard.

"Oh, cool, you're done. I thought it might've taken a while longer, but it looks like you knew what you were looking for and found it." Damien remarked, and noticed that Allie was holding her own bag with the Everlasting name on it.

"You got something too, Allie? Well, that's something new for you. Let's see what you bought!" She held the bag close to herself and closed the top with her hands so that he couldn't peek in and see it.

"Not until tomorrow. It's going to be a surprise." Damien raised his eyebrows and put his hands behind his head.

"Oh? Well, alright then. What about you, Lydia? What'd you get?" Lydia gave him a sly smile, and mimicked Allie's actions as best as she could.

"Not until tomorrow. It's going to be a surprise." She copied Allie's words verbatim, making Damien and Gerald laugh. They decided to then walk around the rest of the mall, looking at the various different stores the Halborne Mall had to offer. Having already each bought something, they didn't buy anything else, and eventually they came back to the food court as their time there was finishing.

"So, Lydia, if I remember our talk earlier today right... it falls to you to do what you gotta do with these." He handed her his Burning Words bag, and Allie gave her her Everlasting bag.

"Do what?" Gerald asked, wondering why Lydia's friends were just giving her their newly-bought clothes. Did they owe her something? If that was the case, why was she getting a guy's t-shirt? Lydia looked at him and his puzzled expression and tried to think of a way to explain away this situation.

 _He doesn't know anything about the Velvet Room. I **could** tell him I'm taking them to a fabric shop or something to have them altered, but is there even one of those in Quartz? That wouldn't make any sense, either..._

"Um... it's kind of a school project. I'm supposed to make a kind of collage using pictures of clothes my friends wear." Lydia hated to lie, but that was the first thing that came out of her mouth. That she was actually taking an art class as one of her miscellaneous electives was the only thing that allowed her to even come up with a plausible excuse – the first two weeks were spent working on basic drawing techniques and had no real projects to speak of yet.

"Oh. What, for art class or something? Hey, I didn't even know you were _in_ an art class. That's pretty cool. You should show me what it looks like when you're done with it!"

 _He bought it. And now I actually have to do what I just said, or else he'll get suspicious. Well, it shouldn't be too difficult. I can do that, make a collage._

"Sure. No problem. Well, we should go. It's starting to get late." Lydia gripped the bags and began to turn around towards where her car was parked.

"Alright. We'll see you tomorrow, then!" Damien said as Lydia and Gerald began to walk away.

"What are you guys doing tomorrow?" Gerald asked. His curiosity was now beginning to get on his sister's nerves, which wasn't something she could actually fault him for because it was a completely normal thing to ask.

"Hanging out at Damien's house. We'll probably watch some movies, or something. Damien loves action flicks and thrillers."

"Cool. Hope you have a good time."

 _It'll definitely be a "good time", alright. If Damien's Idol doesn't show up to hypnotize him, we'll actually get to spend some quality time with F.Z. And if it does... then I guess Allie will get a crash course in learning how to use her Persona and I'll get to see how well those clothing enchantments really work._


	9. Chapter 9

**September 4, 2015 – Friday, Evening – Clear**

Lydia returned to her room and found an unexpected sight waiting inside: a glowing blue door next to her closet, with an elaborate golden design on it. She looked behind her to make sure no one else was around, and then closed her door.

 _Well, this is... I'm not sure whether to be glad I've finally come across one of these, or creeped out by the fact that it's **in my room.** At least I'm the only one who can see it. I guess since I finally have something I can do in there, now I can go inside while I'm still awake._

She pulled out the Velvet Key from her pocket and saw it react to the door, which she noticed didn't actually have a handle. The closer she got to it, the brighter the glow emanating from the key grew. When she had gotten close enough to it, a blue light enveloped her and then she found herself sitting in the guest's chair at the Velvet Room, with her bags of clothes set beside the chair.

"Welcome back. I see you have found one of the entrances from your world, and that you have brought with you a few things. I do not sense any new Personas within you, so I surmise you are here to make use of Victor's services." Igor said to Lydia, smiling at her. Even though she knew he was only here to help her, she still hadn't gotten used to that creepy smile of his. Victor gave her a respectful bow as he was acknowledged, the Persona Compendium held in his hands.

"What is your request?" The silver-haired man asked Lydia. She turned to see the bags of clothes and grabbed them with her hand.

"There are clothes in here that I want you to enchant."

"Of course. Ah, but... might I offer you a suggestion?" He said as Lydia got up from the seat.

"Yes?" Victor opened the cover of the Persona Compendium and turned a few pages to show her Ophelia's name under a heading that read "Fool Arcana", along with a whole page's worth of blank spaces where Personas were meant to be recorded.

"You currently have only Ophelia to draw power from. Are you sure you would not prefer to wait until you have obtained more Personas to use for enchanting?" Lydia felt slightly annoyed by this question, as she was aware that she only had Ophelia right now. Victor's polite manner told her that this was probably something he had to ask regardless, as a formality.

"Ophelia's power will be enough. Here, there are three separate garments that need the enchantment." She took the clothes out and laid them out on the table underneath the mirror, with enough space between them such that it was clear they were all separate jobs.

"I see. That will be..." Victor quoted a price that was near what she had paid for her own clothing. Lydia handed him the money, and he then proceeded to draw out three copies of Ophelia's Persona card, infusing their power into the clothes Lydia had brought to him. When he was done, she put the clothes back into their bags and looked up into his golden eyes.

"Victor, let me ask you something. If this place exists outside of the real world, what purpose does money serve to you? You said you're a resident of this place; does that mean you leave here to do things in the real world with the money?" Victor closed his eyes and smiled, before deciding to respond.

"I am indeed allowed to leave here on occasion, but only if I am accompanied by my guest. As for the money, neither I nor my master have any real need for it. It is a curiosity that Master Igor allows us Velvet Room attendants to possess in order to provide our services to you." Lydia crossed her arms and huffed.

"Well, if you don't need the money, why I am paying you with it? Isn't there something else I can use instead?" Victor was unfazed by her response, and looked to Igor for a moment before responding to Lydia.

"In your world, people ascribe quantized values to pieces of paper and metal in order to maintain economic balance. It is not so much about the medium of exchange, but rather, the _value_ bestowed upon it that is important to us. Any form of growth has a cost; there is always something expended in the formation of new and better things. To part with something largely recognized as having value amongst human beings is the particular necessary expenditure Master Igor has decided upon." Lydia took in his explanation, letting the ideas sink into her mind.

 _In other words, these services cost money because money is considered valuable. It's more accurate to say that the Velvet Room takes what is valuable and converts it into something else that's valuable. It's also probably just easier to deal with than trying to haggle over the worth of some other object._

"I see. When you put it that way, it makes sense. It's actually pretty deep, when you think about it. Still, I don't know where I'm going to keep getting the money for this. Well, thank you for the enchantments, Victor. I'm sure I'll be back once I've obtained some new Personas." Lydia looked behind the guest's chair to see that there was indeed a door going back to the real world, the very same one that she'd used to come here.

"We will be looking forward to your next visit. See you then, Lydia."

Lydia found that she did not need to use the key to return; just approaching the door with the intent to leave was enough to warp her back to her room. Victor had said he was only allowed to leave the Velvet Room if accompanied by his guest, which in this case, meant her. The implications of what that meant considering the location of this particular door were not lost on her, and she shook her head free of those thoughts before deciding to go to sleep.

As it turned out, even though the Velvet Room gave off a constant blue glow, its light did not actually illuminate her darkened room. It was also positioned such that she couldn't see it from her bed, not unless she turned around specifically to look at it. Lydia sighed as she fell back down onto her pillow, once again having a feeling of nervousness about tomorrow. Her eyes instinctively moved towards Junebug, and she decided to hold him close to her once again as she fell asleep for the night.

* * *

 **September 5, 2015 – Saturday, Morning – Cloudy**

Damien had texted Lydia his address and made sure that she knew how to get to his house before she left. Her parents had asked her the same question Gerald had about the extra bags of clothing, and she had had to give them the same excuse as well. It weighed on her that at some point, she would have to stop by a supermarket or an arts and crafts store to pick up the necessary materials to make that collage.

Damien's house was much farther away than the high school, and for someone who was used to being able to drive across town in under five minutes, it almost felt like she was going out of town. His house was situated in a neighborhood similar to her own, except the houses were situated in cul-de-sacs as opposed to being linearly arranged.

 _910 Yolanda Circle. This is it. Another two-story house, and Damien said to park by the curb. It's not a bad-looking house, either._

She got out of her car and brought the bags of clothing with her. Damien opened the door before she reached it, and let her into his house.

"So, _that's_ the dress you bought, huh? Not bad, not bad at all. Come on in." Lydia walked in and saw a bunch of pictures of Damien and his family on the walls as she entered. The living room had a large flat screen TV situated in the middle, with two entire bookcases full of DVDs beside it. There were colored pieces of paper inserted at certain points amongst the DVDs. Allie was sitting on the leather couch in front of the TV, watching a sitcom.

"So, uh... make yourself at home. Do you want something to drink?" Damien asked as Lydia sat down next to Allie.

"Just whatever cola you have is fine." Lydia said. Allie raised her hand and chimed in her own drink request.

"Let me have some of that Bestea!" Damien went into the kitchen and began poking around in the fridge for the drinks. He gave the girls the drinks and then sat on the couch on the other side of Allie holding his own can of soda.

"You said you wanted to use the bathroom mirror to go this time?" Lydia asked. Damien took a gulp from his soda and put it on a coaster sitting on the small table beside the couch. Lydia noticed there was a whole stack of coasters there, likely to keep the wood finish on the furniture as clean as possible.

"That's what I was thinking. Actually, didn't we throw around the idea of using your mirrors from the other side, too? Let's try that before we use the bathroom mirror." Damien said. Lydia reached for her purse that was sitting on the coffee table in front of her and pulled out her mirror. Allie had retrieved hers from her pocket.

"Wait, hold on. We should change first." Allie said to Damien as she put her marble-lined compact mirror on the table and got up from the couch.

"Yeah. Sit tight, Lydia, we'll be right back." The two of them took their clothes and split ways; Allie went down a hallway towards one of the bathrooms, and Damien went upstairs to his room. Lydia had already come wearing her new dress, and so decided to have a closer look at Allie's mirror. It felt smooth and as hard as real marble, with gray swirls decorating its white finish. Lydia wondered for a moment if she could actually use Allie's mirror to summon a Persona.

 _Probably not. The mirrors seem to be individually designed for a reason. To Allie, this is how she'll summon Medusa, but to me, this is just a very pretty compact mirror. And there's still the question of whether or not Personas can be called in this world... but I have no idea where we'd be able to test that without being seen. It's not exactly a discreet thing._

She heard the sound of Damien's footsteps coming down the stairs and turned her head to see him wearing his new t-shirt, along with a pair of blue jeans and sneakers. Being at home, he hadn't bothered to spike his hair up, and so it sat flattened on his head.

"I should probably turn the TV off. We'll need the quiet." He walked over to the remote that was laying on the coffee table and turned the TV off. The door from down the hall opened and the light inside turned off, Allie emerging with her hair done in the side ponytail and wearing her new dress with a pair of pink-and-black hightops.

"Fry me up and serve me on a platter. Now _that_ is quite a look for you." Damien commented, taking in her new appearance. Allie looked down at herself and smoothed out the dress, letting out a breath.

"Yeah. It's going to take time before I wear something like this to school, though. A _lot_ of time." She sat down next to Lydia, who had moved over to the center of the couch, and got her mirror back from Lydia. Damien sat down on Lydia's other side and looked at the girls' mirrors.

"Lydia's is larger. If we all need to be looking into it, then we should use hers." Lydia nodded, and held the mirror out from her as far away as she could.

"Scoot in closer. You both need to be touching me if we're all going to warp together." They did as she told them, and all of three stared into Lydia's mirror.

A whole minute passed by in silence, and nothing happened. Damien's eyes began to flitter about, focusing on different things in the image. Another minute passed by, and still, nothing happened. Allie was now beginning to get distracted, and Lydia remembered that the last time something like this was done, something had already happened by now. After almost three whole minutes had passed by without any sort of change in the mirror or in each other, Damien broke eye contact with the mirror entirely and leaned his head back on the couch, sighing.

"This isn't working. Based on the video footage that Allie had of when it happened to her, she started feeling different after a minute and then both of you were gone within a couple of minutes. The only thing _I_ feel right now is awkward." He reached for his soda and took a couple of gulps from the can.

"I guess we'll have to use the bathroom mirror, then." Allie said, getting up from the couch.

"Use the one upstairs. The bathroom down the hall is a half bathroom, so its mirror's really small." The three of them followed Damien upstairs to the larger bathroom, that had various personal care implements organized by sections, demarcated by color. Its organization was impressive given that all of Damien's siblings were girls, Lydia noted.

"Okay. I hope this works. I'm gonna be bummed if it doesn't." Damien said as he began to look into his bathroom mirror. He looked into his eyes and gradually felt himself being drawn towards them. The girls watched as the image of Damien in the mirror began to shimmer, while theirs stayed the same. Allie saw for herself how her friend's eyes began to glaze over as his image in the mirror began to change; his hair was now spiked again, and his clothes morphed into a tuxedo, complete with bowtie and rose pinned to the breast. Damien's facial expression changed from an annoyed frown to a mesmerized smile.

"Allie, put your hand on his shoulder. Now." Lydia said, her hand already on Damien's right shoulder. Allie did so and watched as Damien's other self reached his hand out to him, smiling widely and nodding. The real Damien copied his grin and attempted to reach out to him as well, but before he could do so, everything flashed white and the three of them were thrown into the valley once again.

Lydia shook her head and looked around to see where everyone was. Allie was sitting up on the ground next to a quartz deposit, and Damien was standing still, facing away from the both of them. He began to walk off.

"Damien, wait! Stop!" Allie stood up and ran up to him, grabbing his wrist and turning him towards her. She was shocked to see that his eyes had dilated, his pupils large and devoid of conscious thought.

"I have to see him. I _need to see him!"_ Damien shouted as he pulled himself free from Allie's grasp and took off running across the valley. Allie tried to follow him, but was stopped by Lydia calling out to her.

"Wait! You don't know what's going to happen next!" Allie stopped and watched what happened as Damien ran away. From the ground, the quartz deposits reacted and burst upwards, forming in seconds a huge gray building that was as tall as a skyscraper. Damien was standing on the top of the skyscraper as it was being created, and was encased in it as the building's shape finalized. Around the building, the grass was flattened as the quartz covered it. A flash emitted from the quartz on the ground and suddenly it had become completely smooth, a gray pavement meant to emulate a parking lot right outside the entrance to the building. There was even a logo emblazoned onto the "pavement": the very same stylized phoenix that was on Damien's t-shirt.

"Whoa." Was the only word Allie could think to say about the whole thing. Lydia walked up next to her and looked up the height of the skyscraper.

"He's at the very top of that, isn't he? I swear, there better be an elevator in there." A coagulating sound reached Lydia's ears and she immediately looked towards the surrounding quartz deposits, which were beginning to turn black.

"Allie, get ready. The Shadows know we're here." Allie looked around her and saw the Shadows solidify and jump out as moving blobs of goo, and looked down at her compact mirror, opening it.

"I just have to... call her name, right? What am I supposed to do after that?!" Allie said, backing up towards Lydia, who already had her mirror at the ready. The Shadows took form as humanoid thugs wielding knives, each of them wearing a mask that looked like a roulette wheel with its distribution of red and green colors. Four of them had spawned before the two girls.

"Medusa probably has a magic skill you can use! You'll know what it is when you call her, now do it!" Lydia looked into her mirror and beheld Ophelia's image in it, and willed her to come forth.

"Let's go! Aqua!" The mirror was consumed in blue flame and Ophelia appeared, firing a jet of water that knocked the nearest Shadow back, but didn't destroy it. Allie looked into her mirror and saw Medusa's face looking back at her, with a confident smile on her face.

" _What do you say we get this party started?"_ Her Persona said, and Allie nodded, drawing in a breath and steeling herself.

"Okay! Come on out, Medusa!" Allie was startled by the mirror suddenly being consumed in blue flames, and was relieved to see Medusa come into existence before her, in a ready stance with her fists clenched. She then suddenly knew that Medusa could do three different things – use earth magic, use a focused physical attack, and _petrify_ a single opponent for a short time. She decided to see how the last option worked.

"Stop them in their tracks. Petrava!" Medusa responded by focusing her gaze at one of the Shadows, and shrieked at it as her eyes glowed with a golden hue. The Shadow jumped before turning to stone in mid-air, landing as a statue face down on the ground.

"Aqua!" Lydia called for another blast of water to finish off the Shadow she had hit before. The remaining two decided to split up in their retaliation. Allie closed her eyes and willed Medusa to shield her, but felt a sharp pain in her abdomen from where the Shadow's knife had pierced her Persona.

"Ow! It really _does hurt!_ " She said, and glared at the Shadow that attacked her.

"Lunge!" Medusa surrounded herself in a veil of green energy and rammed the Shadow, which knocked it back a few feet. Allie felt some of her physical energy go into Medusa for that attack, as if she'd done an entire set of exercises in an instant.

"Guard." Lydia commanded, and Ophelia crossed her arms in front of her chest and took the other Shadow's attack. Lydia felt a dull pain on her arms and then looked to Allie, who she noticed was doing pretty well.

"Allie! You take the one in front of me! I'll get the one on the far end!"

"Okay!" There was only one attack she hadn't tried out yet: the earth magic attack. She directed Medusa's attention to the Shadow directly in front of Lydia and called out,

"Magna!" A rock formed in the air above with the Shadow and was smashed into it, defeating it in one blow. Lydia directed Ophelia to attack the other Shadow, her attack reducing it to bits after Allie's attack had weakened it. The girls then turned their attention to the petrified Shadow, who was still stuck in its fallen-over state. It began to shake, Medusa's petrification beginning to wear off.

"Lydia! It's wide open! Let's finish it now!" Allie said, and Lydia nodded. Both of the girls focused on the remaining Shadow, and each of them commanded their Persona to use her elemental attack on it. The attacks collided with each other before they hit the Shadow, with the water splitting the rock into pieces that flew in every direction. The Shadow was destroyed instantly due to being so close to the impact, and as soon as it evaporated, Lydia noticed a set of small quartz crystals on the ground from where the Shadows had been destroyed.

Ophelia's voice echoed in Lydia's mind once more.

" _It appears that we have once again grown stronger. I am now able to utilize the healing skill Dia. Also, you and Allie have created what is known as a Fusion Spell via your combined efforts. Its name is Ripple Smash."_ She was grateful that Ophelia could now heal them, which was going to be necessary if they wanted to be able to save Damien. For now, her attention turned to the unusual quartz crystals on the ground. As she approached one, it sprouted open and grew a thin, ropy vine that blossomed into a tarot card. The other three crystals then did the same thing, such that there were four crystalline vines growing up from the ground in front of Lydia, each of them with tarot cards for flowers.

"The seeds of opportunity... that was literal, huh?" Lydia muttered as she looked at the card nearest her. It had the image of a golden coin on it, along with the number one in the corners. She looked at the other cards and saw a green vine-like wand on one, a blue cup on another, and the image of something on the last one. Allie attempted to touch one of the vines, but she saw her hand phase through it as if it didn't exist.

"What are these things? They came out of the Shadows we just beat, right?" Allie asked, waving her hand back and forth through the vine. Lydia went over to the one that had the image of something on it, and saw the portrait of a blue-haired woman with a wheel for a torso, her billowing clothing also forming the shape of a circle around her. Looking at it long enough inserted the name of the figure into her mind: Fortuna.

"This is a Persona card." Lydia said, and plucked the card from the vine. The other vines reacted by shriveling and dissolving before they hit the ground, with the cards they held also disappearing into the air. The card that Lydia held emitted a blue glow before sinking into her hand. She then felt the presence of another entity in her mind, one that had wind magic at its disposal.

" _I am Fortuna. Together, we will alter the course of fate..."_ Lydia heard the Persona's voice in her mind, and smiled as she realized she now had two Personas to utilize in battle. As she concentrated on Fortuna, however, she felt Ophelia's presence weaken. Startled by this, she reached deeper into her mind to pull back Ophelia, and as her presence became stronger, Fortuna's fell into the background.

 _It looks I can only focus on one of them at a time... well, that's disappointing. Maybe I just need to become stronger before I can use two Personas at once._

She was curious to see what Fortuna's abilities looked like in battle, and so brought her to the forefront of her mind. Allie had dispelled Medusa, and felt her mirror reform in her hand.

"Oh. There it is." She said. The two girls looked towards the skyscraper, wondering what it could mean in terms of Damien's Idol, which was no doubt in there with him right now.

"Wait. You remember what we we _supposed_ to come here to do, right? If Damien hadn't gotten hypnotized?" Lydia asked.

"Ohhhhh. Yeah. I totally forgot about that." Allie said, remembering the ghost girl that had called herself F.Z. If she could sense when people were in here, why hadn't she came of her own accord already?

"F.Z.! Where are you? I know you're there!" Lydia called out to her, and felt a wind blow blades of grass by her. The blades of grass coalesced to form the shape of a human being, and then F.Z. appeared in full in front of her, wearing the exact same outfit from before. The translucent girl took a moment to take in her surroundings.

"Holy shit. You two really _did_ come back! And at the same time another person got caught in here, too. Looks like some pretty swell timing. So, what are we gonna do?" She cracked her knuckles and stretched.

"Our friend Damien is inside there. We're going to go save him from his Idol. You want to come?" Lydia asked F.Z., who gave her a wide smile.

"You're gonna fight the Shadows, huh? Now that sounds like a good time to me. I didn't even know what the hell we were gonna do, anyways. Hold on a sec, though." She kicked off her shoes and ripped off part of her grass dress, such that her knees were exposed and she was barefoot. She then used one of the nearby quartz deposits to quickly fashion for herself a pair of flats, and put those on her feet. The removed items of clothing both disintegrated.

"There. If we're gonna be running around, I want to be mobile. I can't run around in those clunky shoes. See, I might be a ghost or whatever, but I can't levitate. I can sort of phase through stuff by turning into wind, but if it's an airtight space, I can't go through it any more than either of you could. Also I can't actually _see_ when I do that, and I don't wanna miss any of the fighting." Lydia began to walk in the direction of the skyscraper.

"We should get going. There has to be a way we can get up there quickly. Just so you know, Allie, Ophelia can use a healing spell now. Let me know if you need it, okay?"

"Healing? Oh, good. That battle sort of took a little out of me. One of Medusa's skills makes me more tired when I use it. Show me how that healing process works." Lydia nodded and brought Ophelia to the forefront of her mind, and brought her forth so that she could use Dia. Allie was briefly enveloped by light and then felt her tiredness go away, like the light had filled up her stores of energy again.

"Alright! Yeah, we can definitely save Damien now! Let's go!"


	10. Chapter 10

**September 5, 2015 – Saturday, Morning – Cloudy**

The three girls ran inside the building, and saw that like Allie's rave warehouse, it actually bore a better resemblance to a real-world place on the inside. Like the lobby to a business building, there were chairs and a receptionist's desk, as well as a TV in the corner.

" **Come on, this way! You've only got a few minutes before the bomb detonates!"** A voice that sounded like Damien's with an ethereal echo came from the TV, which suddenly turned on to reveal what was apparently live camera footage from somewhere in the building. Idol Damien was nowhere to be seen, and instead the girls turned to see the real Damien hiding behind a wall, looking out to see faceless figures with guns firing down at him. He returned to his place of cover and reached off-camera to pick up a grenade, which he pulled the pin out of and waited for a few seconds before throwing it around the corner.

The TV feed cut off and was replaced by static. Allie worriedly looked at Lydia.

"A bomb? In here? We have to get up there!" Lydia looked over at F.Z., who was walking around and taking in all the scenery like she was a tourist.

"Come on, we have to find an elevator." Lydia led the girls further down the lobby, and came across an area with two elevators in it. She pressed the button with the up arrow on it, but it flashed momentarily instead of lighting up like it should have. Her eyes were immediately drawn to an object sticking out from the wall next to the button that looked like a card reader of some kind.

"It needs a key card. Allie, go back to the lobby and see if there isn't something like that back there. F.Z. You can sense Shadows, right?" Allie went back into the lobby to search.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Okay. Well, if Allie doesn't find anything, we'll going to have go up the stairs and search until we find it. I have no idea what the layout of this place is, so the Shadows might try to ambush us."

"Oh, I get where you're going with this. You want me to tell you if there's any nearby that you can't see. I can do that. Yeah, I already know this place is crawling with Shadows. We might not have seen any in here yet, but they're definitely here." Lydia walked back towards the lobby and met Allie halfway through the hallway.

"Nothing. What are we going to do?"

"We're going to have to go upstairs and keep looking until we find it. F.Z.'s going to warn us if any Shadows are nearby. Come on!" The girls all ran past the elevators until they reached a large, open room with a central staircase. As they approached the staircase, blobs of goo dropped from the ceiling in front of them, two of them taking the form of the thug Shadows from outside and another assuming a slimmer, more feminine form that stood towards the back.

"Get out of our way!" Lydia looked into her mirror and focused on Fortuna, whom she saw in the mirror before it was consumed in blue flame. The blue-haired woman appeared before her and faced the Shadows.

"Garu!" Fortuna spun her wheel and a green-tinted gust of wind came and enveloped one of the thug Shadows, knocking it down.

"Magna!" Allie called on Medusa and targeted the other thug Shadow, bringing down a rock on its head.

"Hey, it looks like that Shadow's weak to wind! Hit the other one with it!" F.Z. called out from the back, sensing that Lydia's attack had struck a weak point in the Shadow.

"Got it! Garu!" Lydia targeted the Shadow that Allie had just hit with a wind attack, which connected and destroyed it. Now, the Shadow in the back decided to make its move, and concentrated for a moment before targeting Lydia with a cloud of ice crystals that solidified on top of Fortuna, damaging her.

"It likes ice, huh? Maybe you should try fire!" F.Z. suggested.

"We don't have any fire-based Personas. Allie! Let's try that combination attack again!" Lydia said. The two girls focused on the foe and attacked with both Garu and Magna at the same time. When the two spells collided, the rock from Magna bounced upwards and fell on the enemy a second time, crushing it into paste.

" _You have discovered a new Fusion Spell. Its name is Double Fall._ " Fortuna's voice spoke aloud, catching the interest of F.Z. and Allie. The Shadows didn't leave anything behind this time, Lydia noticed.

"Fusion Spell? That makes it even cooler. What about the other one we used, back outside? What's that called?" Allie asked as Fortuna and Medusa disappeared. Lydia walked over to make sure there wasn't anything there.

"Ripple Smash. I guess every time we find a new way to combine our attacks, it results in a Fusion Spell. We should take advantage of them, because they definitely seem stronger than the individual spells."

"Yeah, but the both of you have to have the upper hand on the enemy first. Shadows are mindless, but they're not entirely stupid. They can tell when you're doing crap like that and will try to stop you if they can." F.Z. chimed in, having paid attention to the amount of focus both the girls needed to put in in order to execute the Fusion Spell.

"Let's keep going." The girls ran up the staircase and found themselves in an exact copy of the room that they were just in, except there wasn't another staircase that led upwards.

"There aren't any Shadows in this room." F.Z. said.

"Okay. Well, it looks like we'll have to explore whatever's on this floor." Lydia led them through the hallway at the corner of the room and found that it led to an open office space, filled with cubicles.

"Careful. There's something in here." F.Z. looked around, trying to pinpoint the Shadows' location.

"Then let's get rid of it before we start looking." Lydia said. She directed the other two to follow her as she carefully walked through the room, and found that there was a blob hiding underneath one of the tables.

"Found you! Fortuna, Garu!" She brought forth her Persona and attacked the Shadow before it was able to take shape, sending its two component Shadows flying into the wall of one of the cubicles. Allie summoned Medusa and the two girls quickly dispatched the Shadows, who left behind a pair of quartz seeds.

"Look! There are those seeds again!" Lydia approached them and saw that there was the coin card on one of the vines and the cup card on the other. She picked the coin card and the other card disappeared as the vines dissolved. The coin card transformed into a stack of dollar bills in her hand.

"What? These things can drop _money?_ " She said, leafing through the bills. They were as crisp as if they had been freshly printed, and she wondered why in the world Shadows would spawn cards that turned into money, of all things.

"Well, it _is_ nice to get paid for our efforts... I mean, it _does_ make me feel a little bit better about the risks we're taking." Allie said as Lydia put the money away in her dress's pocket.

"If this card spawning thing keeps happening, I won't even _need_ a part-time job. The only problem is that someone's eventually going to ask where we get the money from. Anyways, that's not important right now. F.Z., is it clear in here?" The translucent girl closed her eyes and focused on her sixth sense.

"Yeah. I don't sense any more Shadows in here. Let's split up and look around in here." The girls did just that, and gathered at the other end of the room with nothing in hand.

"Not a single clue, huh? Fine. We'll just have to keep looking." They went down the hall and found another office room full of cubicles, and repeated the same process as before. They dealt with whatever Shadows they came across, all of which were of the same two kinds they'd fought already, and in doing so Lydia found out that the cup cards healed and the green wand cards granted them more power. Allie's Persona even learned a new technique – Rakunda, which was capable of lowering the defenses of a single enemy. Eventually, they came to a staircase at the end of a narrow hallway.

"I hope we find the key soon. Running up all these floors would not only be wasting our time, but it's also going to tire us out. We can't afford to run out of energy." Allie said, feeling that about half of her mental energy needed to use magic attacks was spent.

"Don't worry, we'll find it. Come on." Lydia assured her and took the lead in going up the stairs. The third floor was dark compared to the previous two, with only some of the lights working. This area appeared to be a break room of some kind, but disorganized, with boxes all over the floor and papers strewn about everywhere. F.Z. felt a heavy presence in the room, and pointed over towards the microwave/fridge combo across from them.

"You see that microwave? Something's off about it. I think a Shadow might be hiding in it, and not just any ordinary one, either. Better keep your guard up." The girls slowly approached it, and when they got close enough, the microwave started up of its own accord. Lydia saw that inside of it was a card of some sort, rotating around on the plate as the microwave began to cook it.

"That's it! That's the key card! Fortuna!" She attacked the microwave with Garu, which caused the machine to morph into a Shadow, that had the microwave for its head and used the fridge as its body. It still had the key card inside what was now its mouth, and retaliated by attempting to smash them with its microwave head. Fortuna took the hit, which to Lydia felt very much like having an entire microwave thrown at her.

"Ow. Okay, this stupid thing is going _down._ " She dispelled Fortuna and focused into her mirror to bring forth Ophelia, and started out by casting Sukukaja on herself. Allie used Magna on it, which knocked it back for a moment.

"That piece of shit's pretty sturdy! It can't focus on both of you at once, though. Divide and conquer!" F.Z. said as she watched from a distance. Lydia took her advice and decided to use her extra agility to quickly back away from the Shadow.

"Allie, use Rakunda on the Shadow. We'll be able to take it down more quickly!"

"Got it! Medusa!" The snake-headed rave queen glared at the Shadow, a purple glow emitting from her eyes that caused a similar light to appear around the Shadow for a brief moment.

"Now, Ophelia! Dia!" Ophelia appeared and healed Lydia. The Shadow decided that Medusa was the larger threat and decided to attack her, trying to bash her with its head. Allie willed Medusa to jump to the side, dodging the Shadow's attack.

"Let's see how you like this! Aqua!" Lydia had Ophelia hit the Shadow in the back of the head with water, which caused it to short out and fall over.

"Awesome! Time for a Fusion Spell!" Allie cried, and the two girls focused their next attack on the Shadow, creating Ripple Smash by having the two spells collide on top of the Shadow. The impact from the attack sent sparks flying from the Shadow, which managed to get back up.

"Oh, not done yet, huh? Come and _get some,_ then!" F.Z. taunted. The Shadow then decided to gather its sparks and direct them outwards at both of the girls, resulting in an electrical attack that neither of them could dodge. Lydia crumpled to the floor due to Ophelia's weakness to electricity, and Allie shivered from the buzzing sensation the attack gave her.

"Well, _fuck!"_ F.Z. commented as the Shadow turned to its nearest target in Medusa and attempted to smash her again. This time, she couldn't get out of the way, and Allie felt the pain of a microwave being thrown at her chest.

Lydia rose to her feet, upset that the Shadow had managed to get the upper hand on them. Allie was panting, and looked to her for direction on what to do next.

"This thing won't beat us. Allie, we've got it on the ropes! Let's do what we did one more time!"

"Okay!"

"Aqua!" Lydia felt a surge of power well up from within her, and her eyes briefly glowed as she called out her attack. Ophelia's jet of water hit the Shadow with more force than before, and the fridge door on its body flew open as it fell on its side, sparking.

"Now, Allie!" The two girls gathered their energy and attacked once more with their elemental spells, water and earth coming together to form Ripple Smash. The spell tore the Shadow's head from its body, the microwave slamming against the wall and falling to the floor, dented. The fridge fell over on the floor, its door loosely hanging from its hinges.

" _When your resolve reaches its apex, the strength of our bond shines through and bolsters our next move."_ Ophelia explained. Lydia and Allie both felt the power from the Shadow flowing into them, granting them and their Personas more power.

"That was kinda tough." Allie said, her hands on her knees. Lydia had Ophelia heal the both of them and walked over to the dented microwave on the floor, opening its door and retrieving the key card.

"Yeah, but we did it. Let's get back to the elevator so we can find Damien!"

The girls went back the way they came, and managed to reach the elevator with only a few recurring Shadows getting in their way. Lydia felt that she was more than halfway spent on mental energy, and hoped that they would be able to get to Damien before it ran out; those cup cards were certainly helping, but they wouldn't be enough to restore them fully. She walked up to the card reader and slid the card through it, turning an LED on the reader green. This time, when she pressed the elevator's call button, it stayed lit, and after a few moments, a ding was heard as the elevator reached the ground floor.

"What's that?" F.Z. said as one of the doors opened to reveal a small white cabinet floating in midair. Lydia walked into the spacious elevator along with the others and decided to open the cabinet, and found a strange sphere with the letter 'M' on it with a down arrow underneath it. As soon as she took it out, the cabinet disappeared, and the elevator's doors closed.

"I'm not sure what this is supposed to be, but it doesn't seem harmful. We'll figure out what it does later. Allie, take us to the top."

"One step ahead of you." Allie had already pressed the button at the very top of the floor buttons, and the elevator began to quickly rise.

"F.Z., while we're here... I have to ask, how are you able to manipulate the grass and quartz? Were you always able to do that?" F.Z. shrugged, leaning on the wall of the elevator, and materialized a small piece of quartz that she played with in her hands.

"I guess. It gave me something to do besides watch people succumb to their Idols. That's why I'm wearing actual clothes, for one. When I woke up after being killed by my Idol, I wasn't wearing _anything._ It didn't feel right running around naked in here, even if no one could see me. But hell if I know _why_ I'm able to do that. Why am I even still _here,_ anyway? If I'm supposed to be dead, shouldn't I be in some sort of afterlife, or in a void of nothingness, or _something?_ Ugh, whatever. Forget about that crap. What about your friend Damien?" F.Z. crushed the piece of quartz she was playing with into dust.

"He wanted to come here after he heard about the first time we were here. He put himself in danger knowing we'd come to save him." Allie said, sighing. F.Z. raised her eyebrows.

"He willingly came here, knowing what kind of place this is? Why? Dumbass." Lydia pursed her lips and noted that the elevator was almost at the top.

"I'd say it's more... bravado. He wanted the excitement, and because he saw how Allie matured after meeting _her_ Idol, he wanted the opportunity to go through that same sort of growth too." Lydia said, the elevator coming to a stop and dinging. When the door opened, they all saw a TV screen mounted on the wall across from them, which turned on as they stepped out.

" **You've got them now, Damien! The bomb's been defused and the enemy has nowhere left to run!"** That ethereal voice that was no doubt Idol Damien's spoke over the footage of the real Damien tossing a set of wire cutters to the floor and getting up from a cylindrical object in the middle of a large room with sirens going off and running towards the stairs ahead of him.

"Lydia! That's the room just ahead of us, look!" Allie pointed to the end of the hallway, where the light from the sirens inside the room they were just watching was visible. The girls into the room and were greeted by a few more Shadows, there being five of them this time. Three of them were the masculine-looking thugs and the two in the back were the slimmer, feminine-looking ones.

"We don't have _time_ for you!" Lydia cried as she summoned Fortuna.

"Petrify one of the back ones! I'm going to deal with the ones in front." Lydia said as she had Fortuna use Garu on the nearest Shadow, knocking it down. Allie got Medusa to target one of the backline Shadows with Petrava, which turned it to stone.

"That's one! Allie, get ready to use Magna on the other Shadow in the back!" Lydia targeted the next frontline Shadow with Garu, and knocked it down.

"And two! Allie, when I knock this last one down, we're going to use Ripple Smash!" She had found out that every time someone was hit with one of their weaknesses, it allowed whoever the attacker was a little extra time to execute another action. That had gone both ways, as she realized from the fights where she'd been hit with electricity while having Ophelia active. The final frontline Shadow was hit with another blast of wind, and Lydia could feel her mental energy beginning to run out as she looked towards Allie, who had Medusa in front of her focusing on the only Shadow that wasn't incapacitated.

Lydia shifted Personas and brought forth Ophelia.

"And three! Now, Allie! Ripple Smash!" The two girls focused their attacks on the slim-looking Shadow, and saw their spells combine to produce the earth-filled ripple that the attack was named for. It immediately wiped out all five Shadows at once, all of them leaving quartz seeds behind. Lydia saw that among the five cards available, there was one with two cups on it instead of a single cup, and took that. As expected, it healed more than the one-cup card, and the other cards disappeared.

 _Around a quarter of my mental energy left. It's going to have to be enough. We can't turn back now._

"How are you doing, Allie?"

"Pretty good. That cup card you got was really helpful. You look more tired than I do, though. You've been working really hard." Lydia began to walk towards the stairs at the corner of the room.

"We've all been working hard. Come on. Damien's waiting for us." The girls ran up the stairs and stood before a large set of double doors, which had the symbol of the phoenix from Damien's shirt emblazoned on it.

"I don't think I need to tell you this, but there's a _lot_ of Shadow energy in there. I'm pretty certain Damien and his Idol are behind that door. So... don't die. Seriously, if you two bite it and leave me alone again, I'll never forgive _either of you!_ " F.Z. said, her face holding a nervous expression. Lydia and Allie looked at each other, Allie shaking her head at F.Z.'s words.

"Don't worry, F.Z. No one's going to die today. We _will_ save Damien. Lydia, are you ready?" Lydia looked within her mind to see which Persona she would lead off with. Since she had used Ophelia more than Fortuna, her initial Persona was stronger, having even learned Patra, a skill that could dispel mental ailments on someone. Fortuna had only learned another elemental attack, a basic ice attack called Bufu.

 _I guess I'll start off with Ophelia, and change it up if I need to. Actually, there's something I hadn't thought of before that I could do right now to help us prepare. I only have so much mental energy left to devote to boosts, but I have a feeling we're both going to need them._

"Ophelia." Lydia's Persona was brought forth in front of the door. The woman in the flowing gown turned to Allie and spoke.

" _Allie. I shall grant us the power of Sukukaja before we enter. In this manner, we will not need to spend precious time in battle casting it."_ She waved her hand once to give Allie the buff, and then once again to give it to Lydia. She then disappeared, reverting to her form as Lydia's mirror.

"It's time." Lydia said, and walked up to the doors and pulled them both open as hard as she could.

The doors led to the roof outside, where Damien was standing before his idealized self. From up here, the girls could see that the valley really did seem to go on forever, with only a few trees dotting the landscape of grass and quartz as far as they could see. The roof was completely flat, the only defining characteristics of it being the four pillars of quartz that rose upwards from the corners of the it.

" **Just as I expected, other me. I knew you had it in you! There isn't an adventure out there that you're not willing to undertake, no opportunity for excitement that you'd refuse. I mean, that's why you came here, isn't it? You wanted to meet _me!_ And why shouldn't you have? You're-"**

"Damien! Don't listen to him!" Lydia called out as the girls ran up to him. He turned around, momentarily surprised, but then shook his head, smiling.

"Oh, hey. You guys... you guys made it. I knew you would."

" **Ah, yeah. Those lovely ladies over there are really something, aren't they?"** Damien's Idol walked up next to him and slung his arm around his shoulder.

" **Though, let's be honest with ourselves. They're not enough for you – nothing in your _ordinary life_ is! You want to live life on the edge, you gotta be risking it all _every day_ or else you're not really living! Well, guess what. This set of spy games I put you through? This is only just the beginning! Take me in, and I promise you every second of your life will be an adventure you never wanna quit."** The Idol let go and stood between Damien and the girls.

" **It's your choice."** Damien looked into his other self's glowing brown eyes, and saw the same determination that he knew he had inside of him. His Idol knew what he was talking about, right down to the last detail.

"It _was_ exciting. I have to admit, that was probably the most fun I've had in years." Damien said, looking down at the ground. He knew what this thing was trying to do. He came in here knowing what was going to happen. And yet, after having actually experienced the thrill of being a secret agent... now he wasn't so sure about himself.

"Damien. I know school can be a bore." Allie began to speak.

"I know that you want more out of your life, that you want to be this total badass. That's not a bad thing! But... adventuring every second of the day isn't what's going to make you happy. If you were always on the move, when could you have time to enjoy the solace of relaxation? When would you be able to spend time with your friends, or with your family? It's okay to dream about being on the edge sometimes, but you don't want to _live there,_ Damien!" He listened to her words and then looked back at his Idol, who seemed unimpressed by Allie's little speech.

"Yeah. If I was always risking it all, that'd be the most selfish thing I've ever done. I'm not going to abandon my friends just for some cheap thrills. That's why... that's why I don't wanna _be you._ " His Idol rolled his eyes and sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. The blue aura around him started turning black, and his body was beginning to show those moving black-and-white stripes.

" **Then let me try one more time to convince you to join me. I'll show you that your destiny is _above all of these ordinary people!"_** The stripes flashed and Damien's Idol began to be encased in quartz. Damien himself ran past it as this was happening and joined his friends on the other side.

"That was really good, Allie. Now get ready. F.Z., I need you to use your phasing ability to move around it and see if there are any weak points we can exploit. Damien... stay next to the doors." The chrysalis began to grow in size, and shattered to reveal the Idol's monstrous form.

It was a shiny, blue-suited man that stood a couple of feet above everyone else, with the emblem of the phoenix on the suit's breast. His hair was navy blue and was spiked up like Damien's typically was, and on his back was a circular pack with multiple implements sticking out of it. He stood in a defensive stance and held a pistol in his right hand, smirking with Damien's face down at the people that dared to oppose him.

" **I am an Idol... everything in you that you wish you were."** He spoke, and started by taking a shot at Allie. Thanks to her enhanced agility, she was able to see him raise the gun towards her and dodged the shot.

"Split up!" Lydia called as F.Z. turned into wind, that backpack of the Idol's having caught the ghost girl's eye. The two Persona-users opened with magic attacks, both of which did some damage to the Idol. F.Z. reformed inches behind the Idol, inspecting the backpack it wore. It looked like it was actually part of his body, so there was no way they could knock it off of him. The implements looked to be a ray gun, an antenna, a strange gray rod, and a rocket launcher.

"Now that's interesting." She turned back into wind and moved away from the Idol as it began its attack.

" **Smart! But let's see how you do without that magic of yours..."** He pulled out the antenna from his backpack and aimed it at Allie, releasing jagged black-and-green waves that enveloped her and Medusa. Allie found that her ability to express mental energy had been sealed, but not her ability to channel physical energy into her Persona.

F.Z. reformed next to Lydia, and pointed at the antenna that Idol Damien was returning to his backpack.

"Allie's magic is shot! You gotta take out that antenna of his somehow, or else you'll get sealed too! Also, it looks like he's got his own magical and physical kinds of weapons." She said, and turned into wind to get a different perspective again.

"Thanks. Allie! Try and use Medusa's physical attacks for now until the seal wears off!" Lydia called, and switched her Persona to Fortuna.

"Garu!" The blue-haired woman spun her wheel and sent green blades of wind at the Idol's backpack, which collided with it but did no special damage. It shook the implements somewhat, but ultimately they remained inside the backpack.

"Okay! Lunge!" Medusa charged at the Idol, turning him around towards Lydia as she knocked him aside. This caused him to drop his pistol, which went skidding across the roof until it was almost at the edge.

" **Clever. But you act like I really _needed_ that!" **He pulled out the strange gray rod from his backpack, which turned out to be very long and required the use of two hands to wield properly. It looked like a giant leafblower, which he flicked the switch on and aimed it at Lydia.

" **Goodbye!"** He fired up the machine, which generated a heavy wind that threatened to push Lydia off of the building.

" _It is foolish to think that wind can turn the odds in his favor against us."_ Fortuna spoke in Lydia's mind, and stood in front of her to block the gusts of the wind. This allowed her to walk forward against it, and when the Idol saw that his newest technique wasn't working, spun around to aim the machine's wind at Allie instead. Unlike Fortuna, Medusa was not resistant to wind, and so the both of them struggled to maintain their balance.

F.Z. regained her physical form perpendicular to the Idol's current attack, right next to Damien. Damien had taken cover behind one of the door, and was peeking out to watch the battle unfold.

"Should I feel bad that there's a part of me that thinks the thing trying to kill my friends is really, really cool?" He asked her. She looked back at him and frowned.

"Yeah, a little. You stay there, dumbass. I'm going back in." F.Z. transformed and got closer to the fray once more.

"Stop." Lydia directed Fortuna to sideswipe him with her next attack, another gust of wind. The attack pushed the machine's direction away from Allie, who used the opportunity to get away from the edge of the skyscraper's roof.

" **Me, stop? How about you _freeze!"_ ** The Idol returned the wind machine to his backpack and pulled out the ray gun, and fired it at Lydia. The blue beam turned out to be concentrated ice, that hit Fortuna and made Lydia feel like she'd been standing out in a blizzard.

 _We're never going to be able to concentrate long enough to get off a Fusion Spell like this! There has to be a way to get the upper hand against him..._ Lydia noticed that the pistol he had dropped earlier was still sitting near the edge. Could it be possible to pick it up and use it against him? Lydia knew that she didn't have much left in her to use magic, which was all her Personas were capable of.

There was only one way to find out.

"Allie! Charge him again! I'm going to go around the other way!" She called out, Allie nodding. Allie still felt the seal on her mind preventing her from using magic, but another Lunge she could still do.

"Medusa!" Her Persona made for the Idol, who was too distracted by the oncoming attack to notice Lydia running over towards the pistol. Even though it was much larger than a regular pistol, she found that she could still lift it without too much trouble. Medusa collided with the Idol, who had braced himself for the impact, and was now trying to resist her continued efforts to bowl him over.

"Good! Keep going!" Lydia encouraged Medusa as she ran closer to the Idol, its oversized pistol in her hands. F.Z. had reformed on the side of the Medusa and watched Lydia approach him.

"What are you doing? Do you even know how to use a gun?!" F.Z. shouted, watching as Medusa and the Idol struggled against each other. Lydia held the gun up just a few feet away from the Idol's ankle and pulled the trigger, which blasted its ankle clean off and sent black goo splattering across the roof. She aimed at its other ankle and fired again, the bullet tearing through the Idol's other ankle and sending more black goo flying. Without any way to stand, Medusa was able to push him to the ground, landing beside Lydia.

" **Unbelievable! I'm not... I'm not _done yet!"_ ** While on his back, he managed to pry the rocket launcher free and fired it at Medusa. The shell collided with her and sent her flying backwards, Allie landing on the ground feeling like she had just been run over by an exploding train. Lydia raised Idol Damien's own gun and pointed it at his head, not hesitating to pull the trigger. His head exploded from the impact of the shot, and as he began to crystallize into quartz, his implements began to do the same.

The Idol and his weapons crumbled into dust, and he now laid on the floor in his previous form as Damien came out from behind the doors.

"That. Was incredible. Seriously, Lydia, you'd probably make a better secret agent than I ever would." He said, still in awe at what he had just seen. He leaned over his Idol self, who was rubbing his head in pain.

" **Damn... I don't get it. It might be the fact that she literally blew my head off making me stupid, but... how can you be okay with the mundane, other me?"** Damien's other self looked him in the eyes, waiting for the answer. He put his hands behind his head and spoke.

"It's all about balance. You can think of life as just a game, but once you do that, you open up the possibility of _losing_ that game. You showed me a really good time, remember? I don't regret going through your gauntlet, but at the end of the day, I want to be able to sleep in the silence of my bedroom just like anybody else. Sure, it might get boring sometimes, but I know that with my friends around, there'll always be something new to keep it interesting." He extended his hand towards his other self, who sat up and took it, smiling.

" **That sounds like an adventure worth going on to me. Thanks for inviting me along."** Blue flames consumed him, revealing an anthropomorphic falcon wearing a white hat that had a flaming yellow disk as its brim and a navy-blue suit similar to what Damien's Idol had worn, complete with black dress shoes. A circular mirror with tens of small, golden metallic curls representing the sun's corona floated before him.

" _Our zeal for life burns hotter than the sun! Greetings, my other self. I am Ra, and it is my pleasure to be accompany you on this journey."_ Damien took hold on the mirror and looked up at Ra, the entity he now knew was his Persona.

"The pleasure... is mine." He said, and Ra disappeared within him. Damien looked over at Lydia, Allie, and F.Z., and smiled at them.

"It really happened. Everything turned out alright in the end! Thank you for having my back when I needed it most, you guys." He looked over at F.Z., who despite the victorious outcome didn't look too happy about it.

"You too, F.Z. I saw you trying to analyze the foe and help them out. You did good, too." F.Z. looked at Damien's mirror and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Yeah, thanks. But let me just say, that if it weren't for you and your hard-on for action, none of this would have ever happened in the first place. You put all the responsibility on your friends, dumbass. Though I guess they don't mind it all that much if they were willing to risk their lives to save you, so whatever." She pouted. Lydia shrugged, her and Allie having already had this discussion with Damien.

"Well, now what? I guess we go back home, then? F.Z., can you open a portal for us?" The ghost girl rolled her eyes and called the screwdriver-shaped piece of quartz into her hand, and attempted to drive it into space. Instead, the quartz tool merely went through air, surprising her as she nearly lost her balance from the unexpected motion.

"Oh, give me a fucking break. This damn building still has Shadow energy all over it. I noticed it happening with Allie's little creation, too – the Shadows seem to be using it as a nest. Pieces of shit are blocking my ability to create portals. We gotta get out of here before I can do it." That reminded Lydia of the circular object that was in the floating cabinet in the elevator, and pulled it out of her dress's pocket.

"What's that?" Damien asked. Lydia rotated it and felt the symbol on it softly pulsing as she ran her fingers across it. It wasn't a voice, necessarily, that called out to her from inside it, but a vibe of some sort, a feeling of being set free from an enclosure.

"I found it in a disappearing cupboard on the elevator. I'm not sure what it does, but... this thing is pulsing on the inside. It's as if it wants to leave this place, too. Here, Allie, feel the symbol." Lydia handed her the sphere, and Allie could sense the same desire to escape in the pulses.

"Damien, she's right. This thing wants to get out." She handed him the sphere, and he closed his eyes, putting his finger directly on the symbol to feel the sphere's soft pulsations.

"Yeah. It's not hostile or anything. It's like someone asking nicely to be let out. F.Z., do you want to feel it?" The ghost girl was surprised that he asked her, and found herself able to hold it in her translucent hands. Whereas the other three only felt a vague sense of what this object could do, feeling the pulses from it told her exactly what this thing was and what it was meant for.

"It's... a Goho-M. Like 'go home'? If you open this thing, it'll warp any friendly presences back to the entrance of whatever uh, dungeon, they're currently in. Here, Lydia, you take it. This thing's starting to creep me out." She handed the Goho-M back to her.

"A pocket warp back to the entrance. I guess fortune really did favor us today. Well, let's get out of here." Lydia opened the sphere, which burst with a light that teleported everyone back to the parking lot in front of the skyscraper. They all walked away from it until they were back on grassland, where F.Z. was able to open a portal with her quartz tool. Damien was about to step through the portal when Lydia stopped him and said,

"Hold on. Listen, F.Z... we're all really tired, and I'm sorry we have to do this again to you, but-"

"You gotta go and rest up and you'll come back once you have the time, I know, I know. I'm not stupid, I know you all busted your asses in there. Maybe next time you can come when there _isn't_ someone without a Persona tagging along for the ride. I ain't going anywhere, you know where to find me. Now get going before the Shadows realize you're still here." Allie and Damien went through the exit portal, and Lydia waved goodbye to F.Z. as she walked through. All three of them ended up facing the other direction in Damien's bathroom, and just as before, the strain of fighting in the valley crashed down on them.

"Damien, I... am going to fall asleep on your couch, okay? Okay, thanks." Lydia murmured as she stumbled out of the bathroom, practically hugging the staircase railing to make sure she didn't fall as her clumsy steps took her down to the ground floor. She plopped down on the living room couch and immediately fell asleep.

"Yeah, I'm... it wasn't this bad last time, and now I'm _really_ sleepy. Just... put out one of your high fantasy DVD box sets, tell your family we fell asleep watching those." Allie went downstairs and sat in one of the armchairs, putting up the legrest and closing her eyes. Damien followed the girls, now understanding what it was like for them when they left the girls' restroom back at school that first time, and did exactly as Allie suggested, taking out one of the box sets and putting in one of the DVDs from it, turning on the TV and leaving the movie playing as he sat down on the wooden chair across from Allie.

He picked up his phone from the coffee table and checked it to see how long they had been gone this time. Apparently, what had felt like at least an hour to them was only about fifteen minutes back over here, which didn't match up with what had happened last time. He sighed, figuring it best not to worry about the discrepancy. Time not flowing consistently between here and there was probably one of the least strange things about that place, he thought, and watched the movie until he fell asleep.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks again to mightymareep98 for the review. Hope you liked the battle.**

 **The next chapter will be a non-canon bonus chapter showing you what would've happened if Lydia and Allie fell in battle. It'll be significantly shorter than this one, for sure.**


	11. Chapter 10 - Alternate Outcome

**A/N: The chapter you are about to read is considered non-canon to the rest of this story. It depicts an alternate outcome that could have happened during an important event.**

* * *

 **September 5, 2015 – Saturday, Morning – Cloudy – Alternate Timeline**

" **I am an Idol... everything in you that you wish you were."** Damien's Idol aimed his pistol at Lydia, and took a shot. Lydia's enhanced agility allowed her to dodge out of the way.

"Split up!" The two of them took opposite sides and fired their respective elemental attacks. The Idol smirked and pulled out the antenna from his backpack, pointing it at Lydia with his other hand.

" **Smart! But let's see how you do without that magic of yours..."** Jagged black-and-green waves came out of the antenna and surrounded Lydia, sealing her ability to use her Personas' magic skills.

 _What? There's... there's a block on my mind. I can't do anything if I'm not able to use my Personas' abilities!_

F.Z. reformed next to Lydia, and pointed at the antenna that the Idol was still holding.

"Your magic's shot! You have to get him to stop using that antenna, or else Allie will get sealed too! He's also got that ray gun and a rocket launcher, so watch yourself!" F.Z. disappeared, and Lydia nodded, deciding to go on the defensive until the seal wore off.

"Allie! Charge him! Keep him away from me!"

"Medusa!" Allie's Persona charged him, and he was sideswiped by the blow. Both the antenna and the pistol flew out of his hands, scattering to different corners of the roof.

" **I didn't really need those to deal with you, anyway!"** Idol Damien pulled out the gray rod from his backpack, which turned out to be a machine that resembled an oversized leafblower. He flicked the switch and aimed it at Medusa and Allie, producing a heavy wind which they struggled to stand against.

 _I need to distract him somehow. This is stupid, but... he'll blow Allie off the roof if he continues with that machine!_

Lydia used the last few seconds of Sukukaja to run in between Medusa and the Idol, and had Fortuna act as a shield against the gusts of wind from the machine.

" _Though our abilities may be suppressed, it does not change the fact that wind will not faze me."_ Fortuna spoke in Lydia's mind.

" **Bodyblocking's about all you're good for without your magic!"** The Idol returned the wind machine to his backpack and pulled out the ray gun, firing it at Fortuna. Since she was already in a defensive stance, the resulting ice damage was reduced.

"Allie, use Rakunda. We'll just have to wear him down." Allie rotated around him and had Medusa glare at him, the shining purple light signifying that he was now more susceptible to damage. Lydia maintained her distance from him, still unable to work through the mental block.

" **How about... this?!"** The Idol pulled the rocket launcher from his back and fired it at Fortuna, who was still guarding. Even with the guard, the explosion rattled Lydia, like she had stood her ground against an exploding train.

"Leave her alone!" Allie shouted as she willed Medusa to charge him. He took the hit, and almost lost his balance as he attempted to keep hold of the rocket launcher. The Idol looked over towards his dropped implements and made a move to retrieve the pistol and antenna, returning the rocket launcher to his pack. He picked up the pistol and aimed it at Lydia, and pointed the antenna towards Allie.

" **And if I refuse? What are you going to do to stop me, Allie?"** The Idol shifted the antenna towards Lydia and fired both it and the pistol simultaneously. Lydia had nowhere to run, and so felt the seal tighten upon her mind after she'd spent the last few minutes trying to break it. The bullets from the pistol were hot, stinging pains in Lydia's body.

 _This... this can't be happening. I can't take much more of this. What am I supposed to **do?!**_

Damien had, for a moment, thought the thing attacking his friends was kind of cool. Now, with Lydia clutching her chest in pain and completely unable to do anything besides guard, he felt horrible for ever thinking that monster of an Idol was something to be admired. F.Z. had been watching the battle unfold from the doors, watching as the two girls slowly began to lose the fight.

"Damn it, Lydia! Don't you fucking die on me! Allie! Do something! Shit!" She shouted, attracting Lydia's attention. The Idol was completely deaf to F.Z.'s shouting, and smirked as Allie tried a Magna attack on it. It connected, but it was clear the Idol didn't care about Allie's presence whatsoever and made a mad dash for Lydia.

 _Ophelia... please, if there's anything you can do, do it!_ She switched Personas, and attempted to get out of the way of Idol Damien as he fired multiple shots at her with his pistol. She couldn't dodge all of them, and fell to the ground as she took some of the bullets herself. While Ophelia's power and the different rules of reality in this world meant that they didn't exhibit the same effects as bullets in the real world would have, she still felt a blinding pain all throughout her body.

" _I'm sorry, Lydia... I can't."_ Ophelia fainted and faded into nothing, leaving Lydia alone as she struggled to move away.

"Lydia! No!" Allie screamed, her eyes briefly glowing with resolve as she ordered Medusa to tackle the Idol one last time. He saw the Persona coming and braced himself for the attack, locking himself in a grappling match with her.

 _Why is this happening to me? Am I really... alone?_ Lydia watched helplessly as F.Z. screamed all manner of curses at the Idol, trying to punch and kick at it and finding that every attack harmlessly phased through it. Suddenly, in the corner of her eye she saw Damien run up to her.

"Lydia, we have to get you out of here!" He lifted her and ran towards the doors, while his Idol and Medusa were still locked in their hold.

"The... your Idol." Lydia mumbled, her hand shakily pointing at the monster.

"Forget the Idol, I'll... I'll let it take me." The Idol saw his other self running away with Lydia and headbutted Medusa, breaking the hold and giving him enough time to brandish his rocket launcher and point it at them.

" **You would choose _her_ over _me?_ I guess you gotta learn the hard way!"** He fired the rocket launcher at them. Allie saw everything happen in slow motion after that: F.Z. wailing in despair as she tried in vain to reach the two in time. Lydia went limp in Damien's arms as he closed his eyes, awaiting the inevitable. And then... she couldn't bear to look, and turned away from the sight as she heard the rocket explode from the impact.

* * *

 **The Velvet Room**

In the realm between dreams and reality, Igor felt a chill reverberate throughout his entire body. He closed his eyes, folded his hands, and looked down at the ground, feeling a deep sense of sorrow well up within himself.

"Master? What is the matter? Are you feeling unwell?" Victor asked, concern written on his face. His master's expression told him that something dire had happened, and considering what their duties were, it was possible that the worst might have just happened. Igor did not move, and after a moment of silence, began to speak.

 **In all souls, there exists a desire to witness beauty...**

 **The form it may take is not always the same,**

 **For each person beholds the world in their own way.**

 **Their ideals are the stars that brighten the night.**

 **They are the points that connect what is to what might be.**

 **And only through perseverance do far-off dreams became reality,**

 **So that the beauty of growth may be beheld by those near to it.**

 **But now, those depths shall remain forever unexplored**

 **As the eye of the Beholder has been shut, and shall never open again.**


	12. Chapter 11

**September 7, 2015 – Monday, Morning – Sunny – Labor Day**

Lydia woke up feeling much better than she had yesterday, which she mostly spent sleeping and doing homework. She stretched and looked behind her to see that the Velvet Room door was indeed still there, and didn't look like it was going anywhere anytime soon. She had ignored it all through yesterday, not feeling up to seeing its residents in her disheveled state.

 _I have another Persona now, so I guess I could take advantage of that fusion process Igor was talking about... but do I really want to right now? Maybe later._

She looked over at her alarm clock and saw that it was about nine in the morning, around the time she usually woke up if she didn't have to go to school. The sound of her phone vibrating on her desk caught her attention, and considering half the people that would call her were in the house, she already had an idea of who it was.

"Hello, Damien. What's up?"

"Morning, Lydia. Feeling better?" He sounded pretty chipper.

"Good morning!" Lydia heard Allie's voice on the other end and smiled.

"Good morning, Allie. Yeah, I don't feel like crap anymore. What's going on?"

"Well, we were talking about what had happened on Saturday, about what's going on with that valley. I don't know if you've been watching the news, but they keep finding people in the woods with that weird mark on their shoulder. Do you remember how F.Z. said she saw a lot of people succumb to their Idols?" Damien said, and Lydia connected the dots of what he was going to say before he said it. She let him finish his thought.

"What happened to me and Allie over the last two weeks is exactly what's happening to those people that disappear. See, we wondered why we looked in mirrors all the time and never had it happen to us before, and we came to the conclusion that whenever a person gets warped away, it's because they're under some kind of personal stress that makes them wish they were something better."

"We don't really know why there's only been a few disappearances, though." Allie said.

 _If just being stressed out caused people to disappear, then there would be a **lot** more missing people. Is there some sort of factor that they have in common besides that?_

"Yeah. You'd think if that was it, that there'd be a lot more people ending up on the other side. I don't know. We know very little about that place, and most of what we do know is either from personal experience or from F.Z. telling us about it. Speaking of which..." Lydia trailed off, thinking. This week was likely to be busy, given that the first home football game was this Friday. She really wanted to go see F.Z. the way she had originally planned, and today would probably be the only day to do it.

"What?" Allie asked.

"We still need to go see F.Z. I feel bad that we haven't really gotten to spend any time with her."

"Oh, yeah. I remember Allie told me about that. Sorry for getting in the way of that. What, did you want to go see her _today?_ " Damien said.

"The first football game's this Friday. I don't think I'll have another opportunity to go until the end of this week. I don't know if either of you had any plans for today, though."

"Well, my family's going out to eat tonight. I don't have anything else to do until then, so if you want to catch lunch later and then maybe we'll figure out what to do from there? I mean, none of us have actually been there without being forcibly pulled in. We still need to figure out how we're even supposed to get back." Damien responded.

"I'm not doing anything special. My parents are both working today, which means I'm alone here. If we're going to meet up somewhere, Damien will have to pick me up." Allie said.

"You're alone? You don't have any siblings living in the house with you?" Lydia asked.

"No. I'm an only child." Lydia found that very fitting given Allie's associated Arcana, the Hermit.

"Oh. Sure, I'm okay with meeting up somewhere for lunch. Where do you want to go?"

"How about Awesome Burger? The one over on Realford Street?" Damien suggested.

"Sounds good. I'll see you two over there, then."

 **Monday, Lunchtime – Sunny – Labor Day**

"So, I think that if we're going to go back there on our own terms, it'll probably be by using a mirror." Damien said as he took a drink from his soda.

"Yeah. We've already established that using our mirrors from the other side doesn't seem to work, so we'll probably have to use whatever other mirror we can find. Also, I don't think we all need to be together in the same place to do it, either. If any mirror large enough will do the trick, then we can all warp there from wherever's most convenient for us. The only thing is that if we're not all together in the same place, we'll have to text or call each other to make sure we all leave at more or less the same time." Lydia said, taking a bite out of her burger. Allie had already eaten most of her fries and had only taken a single bite of her burger.

"That would be really helpful if we could each go there on our own." Allie said, finishing up the last of her fries.

"You ate all the fries again." Damien pointed out that next to the empty fry holder were a set of empty ketchup packets. Allie narrowed her eyes at him through her glasses and grabbed his fries.

"Not yet I haven't." She said as she took a handful of them and ate them in front of him. Lydia chuckled and moved her fries away from Allie.

"Note to self: keep my fries away from the Potato Devourer over here." Allie looked at her with a surprised expression for a second, before breaking out into laughter.

"That's right, Damien. Show some respect for the Devourer of Potatoes!" She dipped a couple of fries into the open ketchup packet and took a bite out of them. Damien shook his head and leaned back in his seat, putting his hands behind his head.

"You two are a real hoot. Hey, if we're going to be naming things, why don't we come up with a name for our little group?"

"Like what? You mean because we have Personas?" Allie said, finally deciding to take another bite out of her burger.

"Well, yeah! Lydia, you remember how I said that I could count on you and Allie to bust my Idol up if it showed itself?" Lydia nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

"Uh huh. And that's exactly what we did, right?" She looked at Allie, who nodded in agreement since her mouth was full.

"You betcha. That's why I'm thinking, if someone ever gets trapped on the other side again, that we can bust up _their_ Idols, too. Do you know what that would make us?" Damien paused, hoping either of the girls would fill in his blank. Allie shrugged and Lydia raised her eyebrows, not wanting to say anything.

"Idol Busters. _Quartz's_ Idol Busters. QIB, for short." Lydia couldn't help but laugh at the name, and Allie smiled as she swallowed the food in her mouth.

"The Quartz Idol Busters? Are we going to have our own theme song, or something? Are we the ones people are going to call when someone disappears after looking into a mirror?" Lydia said, playfully mocking the name. Damien pointed his mostly-eaten burger at her and grinned.

"Come on, you know it's awesome. Think about it, though. You don't want to just leave the mystery of that valley open, do you? That place has gotta be there for a reason. Who else do we know that's capable of traversing it? I figure if the police can't figure out what's going on, _somebody's_ gotta pick up the slack. The best part is, is that we can keep it on the down low. Real hush-hush, all of our missions are on a need-to-know basis."

 _So basically, we're going to be like superheroes with secret identities. If we were to actually do as he says and save other people that end up trapped in the valley... even if they recognized who we were, they'd have no way to prove the truth of what happens over there._

"I _do_ want to know what's going on. I'm certain that's the trial Philemon was talking about, which means... I can't leave this alone. Allie? What do you think?"

"We were given these powers for a reason. Ophelia, Medusa, and now Ra... I think we're meant to work together with them to unravel the truth behind that place. And even though it's... even though it's really dangerous for us to save people, to help them face their Idols, there's no one else who can do it. So yes. We will become the Quartz Idol Busters." Lydia wondered if the name was really necessary if they were the only ones who even knew about it.

 _It's not that bad, I guess. QIB, huh..._

"Then it's settled. Say, Lydia... what do you think about us having our own costumes? You can get Victor to enchant them or whatever, and since-"

"If you want to do that, go for it. I'll be fine just wearing normal clothes for now... I mean, are you going to carry around a costume in your backpack just in case you need to 'report for duty'?" Lydia said, drinking the last of her soda.

"Are you? You only have the one dress with the enchantment, and I don't think you're going to want to wear the same thing every day. I guess you'll have to pay Victor a visit pretty soon." Damien said, eating the last of his burger.

"Yeah, you're right. Well, I think we'll be okay wearing the same stuff as before for today. I don't think we'll be making another visit over there this rest of this week, anyway."

"So, how are we going to get there, again? Are we going to try our own individual mirrors this time?" Allie asked. Damien shrugged.

"Sure. Guess that means from now on, we won't need to all be in the same place. I think what Lydia said about contacting each other before we try to leave is a good rule, too. Which means... well, I guess I'm taking Allie back home."

"Okay. Lydia, are you going to finish your fries?" Lydia blinked, and saw Allie eyeing her leftover fries expectantly. She picked up the fry holder and put it in front of her.

"Thanks!" Allie smiled, opening another packet of ketchup and dipping one of the fries in.

 **Monday, Afternoon – Sunny – Labor Day**

Lydia returned home and went back to her room, where she changed into her golden-colored dress and looked at the vanity mirror in her room. She looked at her phone and texted both Damien and Allie that she was ready to go. In under a minute, both of them texted back saying that they were also ready to get going.

 _Well, here's to hoping everything goes well this time. Hopefully nothing crazy happens on the other side._

She looked at her own reflection, holding her own personal mirror in her hands. After a moment, she saw her reflection take on the moving zebra stripes that the portals had, and then the world flashed white around her. Instead of being thrown into the valley as before, she remained standing in the same stance as before, looking around to see that the others hadn't gotten there yet. What _was_ notable was that there was another Velvet Room door in here, placed a few feet away from her current position.

A few seconds passed and she saw Damien and Allie pop into existence from zebra-striped silhouettes, each of them holding their mirrors and looking around to make sure they had indeed crossed over.

"Wow, it worked! Sweet!" Damien said. Allie noticed that the skyscraper Damien had created when he first came here was still there, as well as the warehouse she had made.

"F.Z.! We're here!" Lydia called out to the air, and a wind full of blades of grass came around and materialized into F.Z.'s translucent form next to her. She was wearing the same outfit that they had last seen her in.

"Well, looks like you guys managed to get back on your own after all. I haven't seen anybody else land in here in the past couple of days, but I get the feeling I'll probably see another one soon." Lydia pursed her lips and looked at Damien and Allie. Damien decided to speak to F.Z. first.

"There's actually a couple things we want to ask you about this place. You seem to know a lot about it, and we're trying to figure out what's really going on here." Damien waved his arm out to indicate the two structures he and Allie had made. F.Z. took a breath and decided to create four chairs out of quartz, one behind each person.

"If that's what we're gonna do today, we should probably sit down for it. Hopefully the Shadows don't decide to screw with us." Everyone sat down, F.Z. crossing her legs and arms.

"So, what do you want to know? Honestly, I feel like I know jack shit about this place, so I don't know how much help I'm gonna be." Damien put down his mirror onto the ground.

"About how often do people land in here? I know that between me and Allie it was about a week, and as far as the disappearances go they seem to be happening on about that schedule, too. Was there anyone else in here between me and her?" F.Z. looked at Allie as she responded.

"I don't have a watch, or any sort of thing that would help me tell what time it is in here. The sun's position never changes, me being kind of _dead_ means I don't need to sleep anymore, so I can't tell you exactly how long it is between people. Also, I have no idea how many there were before me. But from what I remember, between me and Allie there were five people. All of them accepted their Idols, either immediately or after being attacked for initially rejecting them. There didn't seem to be any pattern to them, either: the first one was some guy about your age, another was some office worker lady, the third one was a middle-aged guy, the fourth one was some little girl, and the last one before Allie showed up was some chick who also looked around your age." Damien thought over the list of people that had been lost and found so far. The people F.Z. described did indeed match the individuals that had been found in the woods, each of them with that strange mark on their left shoulder.

"I recognize all those people from the news. Which leads me to my next question... why haven't I seen _you_ on the news reported as a missing person?" F.Z. shrugged.

"Hell if I know. Like I said, I don't know how long I've been in here. My body hasn't aged at all since I was killed, and I still don't remember anything from before I was drawn in here. I might have been in here for years as far as the real world's concerned, and at that point I..." She trailed off, looking down towards a nearby quartz deposit. Lydia noticed a flash of sorrow in her eyes before she looked up at her and glared at her.

"Whatever. It's not important, you're not here to talk about me. What else do you want to know?" Lydia thought for a moment before answering.

 _So someone new lands in here every week, more or less? Damien had said that the disappearances only started around a month ago. F.Z. not being a part of that is unusual, but there's probably a reason behind that that we're not in a position to figure out yet._

"We've talked about the series of disappearances amongst ourselves, and we don't think they're going to stop anytime soon. I remember you said something about how we could save the people that end up in here, which is something we want to do if we can." F.Z. sighed, looking over at the quartz structures Lydia's friends had created when they showed up here. Before them, all the various buildings that people had made disappeared along with them when they accepted their Idols. Why _that_ was a thing, she didn't know. In any case, the Shadows flocked to them like ants to sugar, as if people were the only things they showed any interest in.

"Why?" She asked, looking to Lydia for the answer. Lydia maintained eye contact with her, focusing on her brown eyes that faded in and out as F.Z. breathed.

"I think it's our responsibility to do something about this place. We all were given our Personas for _some reason._ We know how people end up here, and we have the ability to keep people from coming down with that strange mental condition that results when they accept their Idols. Eventually, we want get down to the bottom of what's really going on in here. We want to know why a place like this exists." The ghost girl looked confused at something Lydia had said, and spawned a piece of quartz that she played with.

"Hold on. Mental condition? What, do people go crazy when they show up back in the real world?" Damien decided to field that answer.

"Not exactly. According to the news reports, anyone who returns more or less functions okay, until they look at themselves in the mirror. Then they sort of end up in a trance, a lot like the ones Allie and myself were in right before we got taken over here. At first, it only lasts a few seconds. The more it happens, the longer they stare, until someone has to snap them out of it. They've even got a name for it now: Narcissus Syndrome."

"Huh. I bet I know what it is they're staring at whenever they see their own reflection." F.Z. commented, uncrossing her legs and tossing the piece of quartz over her shoulder. Everyone present knew what she was referring to: their Idols.

"So, you wanna play the heroes, huh? Well, I'm game for anything, as long as there's something to do. Until someone else shows up here, you might want to check out the buildings you two left behind." She pointed her index fingers at Damien and Allie.

"Something is drawing Shadows to them, even though there isn't anyone there anymore. You might find something if you kick them out, who knows. It'd sure as hell beat sitting around here talking." F.Z. stood up and turned her chair into quartz dust. Lydia looked towards her friends, and then briefly towards the Velvet Room door that had appeared nearby.

"What do you think? Should we go see what's going on at the warehouse?" She stood up from the chair, which turned into dust. The other two also stood up, their chairs also disintegrating. Damien picked up his mirror from the ground and looked into it, seeing his own reflection in it.

"Sure, why not? We pretty much just got here, and I still need to learn how to fight with my Persona. You two can teach me!"

"Our first mission as QIB." Allie smiled, looking into her compact mirror.

"QIB? What's that?" F.Z. asked. Lydia sighed as the other two looked at each other with grins on their faces before responding in unison.

"The Quartz Idol Busters!" The ghost girl's mouth opened, and for a moment no one spoke as she looked from Lydia to Damien and Allie, and then back to Lydia again. She weakly lifted her arms and then let them fall to her sides.

"You know, I get the feeling I'm the least weird out of the four of us, and I'm _dead._ Let's get going then, _Busters._ " F.Z. began to walk off towards the warehouse, not looking back to see if she was being followed. Damien and Allie quickly caught up to her, with Lydia bringing up the rear.

 _They're never going to let that go now. I guess I should just get used to it..._

"Alright! Let's burn 'em up!" Damien called out as Ra stretched out his hand and crushed the air with his fist, setting the nearest Shadow on fire. F.Z. was right about there being a bunch of Shadows in and around the warehouse, and QIB spent a while clearing them from the outside. Lydia focused on strengthening Fortuna, and had her finish off the Shadow Damien targeted with a Bufu spell. Allie had petrified the last nearby Shadow, which left the three of them able to do whatever they wanted right now.

"Lydia! Let's see what kind of Fusion Spell we can make with Damien's help!" She called out, and Lydia nodded and turned towards Damien.

"Charge up another Agi attack! When I give the word, let it go at the enemy!"

"Got it!" Damien focused on the petrified Shadow. Lydia told Fortuna to prepare a Garu spell, and Allie was focusing on getting Magna ready. Once she felt everyone was ready to attack, she gave the signal.

"Now!" All three elemental attacks zeroed in onto the Shadow, which was just about to regain its mobility. The rock from Magna fell on top of it before being raised up by the Garu wind's updraft and heated by Agi's flame, turning it into a flaming boulder that exploded on top of the Shadow and obliterated it.

" _Let's call that spell Fireball."_ Medusa spoke aloud as quartz seeds sprung up from the defeated Shadows. Lydia went over to the vines and looked around for a new Persona card, which she found on top of the Shadow they had taken out with their new Fusion Spell. She plucked it from the vine and felt the entity within manifest inside her mind, calling itself Forneus. It resembled a stingray with a toothy maw, and upon taking it in, she knew what it was capable of – Bufu, a physical attack it called Skewer, and Tarukaja, which could amplify an ally's attack power for a short time.

"I wonder why that only works for you... is there a reason Allie and I can't have multiple Personas?" Damien asked as Ra disappeared. Lydia looked into her mirror for a moment, quickly changing the reflection from hers to Ophelia's to Fortuna's to Forneus's, and then back to hers again.

"It's the power of the wild card. It's the same reason why only I can visit the Velvet Room. If you mean, 'Why did Philemon choose just you to have it and not all of us?', then... I don't know. I haven't seen Philemon at all since that first meeting. He said that I'd see him again, but I guess it'll be up to him as to when that'll happen." Damien shrugged, and then looked into his mirror, seeing Ra crossing his arms and looking mildly upset.

" _What, am I not good enough for you?"_ His Persona asked in his mind, which made him lower the mirror and scratch the back of his head before pulling it up again.

" _No, it's not like that, it's just... I thought it'd be better if we all had the same versatility that she does. Trust me, I'm grateful for you-"_

" _Ah, don't worry about it. I'm just messing with you."_ Ra said, letting his feathered arms drop.

"Well, looks like you all took care of the ones outside. Thing is, something big's decided to park its stupid ass inside the warehouse itself. I'd say it's somewhere between an Idol and that appliance monstrosity we fought in Damien's skyscraper in terms of power. I don't think it's going to go anywhere, so if you want to leave, it'll still be there when you come back... but come on, it's three against one! I'm sure the _Idol Busters_ can take it down no problem!" F.Z. made boxing motions with her fists. Lydia turned around and looked back to see that the Velvet Room door was visible from the courtyard outside the warehouse.

"Let me visit the Velvet Room first. There's a door back where we came in, and I want to see if I can't get any new Personas from Igor."

"There is? I didn't see anything over there... but I guess since only you can see those things to begin with, I'll have to take your word for it." Allie said, looking back and not seeing the glowing blue door that Lydia could. Damien put his hands behind his head and started to walk back.

"Sure. I don't mind taking a little break." The four of them went back towards the entrance, and Lydia pulled out the Velvet Key and approached the door, disappearing in a flash of light. The others were surprised to see her vanish, F.Z. deciding to respawn the chairs from earlier.

"Hope she won't be in there for too long." She said as everyone sat down.

Lydia found herself sitting in the cushy guest's chair once again. Victor had a small smile on his face, clearly pleased to see her again. The same went for Igor, by way of his large grin.

"Welcome back, Lydia. What do you wish of me and my master today?" Victor gave his greeting with a small bow, the Persona Compendium in his hands. She looked at him and brought forth the two new Persona cards she had obtained since her last visit.

"I've got some new Personas I want to put into the Compendium." Victor opened the book, its pages automatically turning a page marked "Hermit Arcana". Forneus's name was now written in one of the blank spaces, along with a number on the right-hand side of the page denoting how much it would cost to re-summon him. The page then turned and the same process was repeated with Fortuna.

"Very good, then. Would you also like to see which Personas my master may fuse for you today?" Lydia found his polite butler act quite charming, and set her Persona cards on the table before Igor.

"Okay. How does this fusion thing work?" She asked. Igor looked towards Victor, who handed him the Persona Compendium, which he set floating on Lydia's left side. The pages turned towards the beginning, and were filled with blank spaces similar to the ones where Lydia's Personas were registed.

"Currently, there are two types of fusion available to you: Normal and Triangle Spreads. As you only have these three Personas right now, I can show you all the possible fusions that may result from any combination of them on a single page." Igor indicated the Compendium, which now had a bunch of names written in the blanks, as well as the names of the Personas needed for the fusion.

 _Orobas of the Magician Arcana, Valkyrie of the Strength Arcana, and Senri of the Empress Arcana... those are the ones I can make just by fusing two Personas together. If I were to use all three, then I'd get Saki Mitama of the Priestess Arcana._

"The Social Links you have forged will bestow additional power onto any Personas from the Link's respective Arcana. I can sense that you have not yet created a Social Link for either the Strength or the Priestess Arcana, so I will not be able to bestow any additional power on Valkyrie or Saki Mitama." Igor explained. Lydia considered what would be best to round out the team's strengths; Orobas was mostly focused on fire, which Damien's Persona could readily use. Senri had a mixture of skills the team already had in some way. Valkyrie was focused on offense, with Bufu and a physical attack it called Cleave. Finally, Saki Mitama had both healing and offensive magic.

 _Well, it's not like I have to choose only one, right? The only thing holding me back from fusing all of them is the cost of re-summoning their components from the Compendium. Thing is, I don't have that much money, and I don't want to fuse any Personas I don't think I'm going to need. So..._

"Fuse Senri for me, please." Igor nodded, and handed Ophelia's Persona card back to Lydia. He then extended his gloved hand over Fortuna and Forneus, making the cards rise into the air, glowing with a powerful white light.

The cards then began to twirl around each other as the scenery of the Velvet Room began to give way to a vast, open space that reminded Lydia of pictures she'd seen of other galaxies with their mysteriously beautiful colors. Even Igor himself seemed to disappear as the cards rose in midair, before suddenly going off in opposite directions. A large, complicated sigil appeared underneath the cards, which turned out to be resting on the ends of the sigil. Lydia blinked and saw the cards rush at each other, resulting in an implosion that briefly blinded her with white light before revealing a young woman with porcelain white skin and red eyes, wearing a straw hat and pink robes.

" _It is good to meet you, my other self... I am Senri, and together we shall accomplish great things."_ The Persona spoke, making eye contact with Lydia. A moment passed and white rays of energy flowed into Senri, who closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she absorbed the Empress Social Link's power.

" _I feel the bond you have forged with Carla, and it has granted me strength. I can now heal all your allies at once with the spell known as Media. I sense that Carla will go far in life, if she continues to develop as the person she truly is."_ Senri remarked, before disappearing and being replaced by her Persona card. The majestic scenery of the universe faded back to the Velvet Room's normal appearance, and Igor handed Senri's card to Lydia.

"Marvelous. Simply marvelous. I look forward to performing many more fusions for you." Lydia took the card and noticed that the names on the Persona Compendium's list of potential fusions had changed, reflecting the Personas she currently had in her possession.

"Would you like to perform another fusion?" Igor asked. Lydia shook her head, and the Persona Compendium returned to Victor.

 _I feel... I don't know how to describe this feeling that I have after watching that fusion take place. I'm amazed, for one, and... humbled, joyful... these are the sorts of things that are inside me? Is the sea of the soul really that beautiful, is it really as amazing as Igor just made it look? I want to believe it is._

"Thank you, Igor. I think... I think I just realized something about myself that I didn't see before." Igor slowly blinked, nodding his head in understanding.

"The sea of one's soul is truly a wonderful thing to behold. There is always something new waiting within it, and you have taken one step closer to a better understanding of both yourself and of others. Indeed, the power of the Beholder has been strengthened in you, and you will now be able to influence the direction in which the seeds of opportunity will blossom."

 _Influence their direction? I wonder what that means. Well, I guess I'll find out soon enough._

"I see." Lydia closed her eyes and contemplated what had just taken place, grateful for the utter silence the Velvet Room offered. She opened her eyes and rose from her seat.

"I think that's enough for now. I'll be sure to visit you again once I'm ready. See you later, Victor, Igor. And once again, thank you."

"You are most welcome. We look forward to your next visit." Victor bowed to her once again. She left the Velvet Room and saw her friends sitting on quartz chairs, all of them perking up at her reappearance.

"Hey, you're back! So, how was it? Did you get a new Persona?" Damien asked. Lydia decided to answer that question by looking into her mirror and willing Senri to come forth, the mirror being consumed in blue flames as the porcelain-skinned young woman floated behind Lydia.

"Wow! That's cool. What's her name?" Allie asked.

"Senri. She's what I got by fusing Fortuna and Forneus together, which are Personas I got from each of your respective dungeons. You know Carla, the leader of the dance team at school? Well, my bond with her gave Senri enough strength so that she can heal all of us at once."

"You have a bond with _her?_ Huh. I wonder what that's like. From what I've heard about her, she doesn't seem like a very nice person." Damien put his hands behind his head.

"I don't really understand it, either. She seems to have taken a liking to me for some reason, but I'm not complaining about it. If I can really be friends with her, that would be great." F.Z. stood up and disintegrated her chair.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice Persona you got there. Now are we going to go stomp that Shadow in the warehouse or not?" She asked, tapping her foot on the ground. Lydia just smiled at her, Senri disappearing and the mirror reforming in Lydia's hand. She put her hand on F.Z.'s shoulder, and was happy to find that it felt just as warm as any living person's shoulder would be.

"Of course. Come on, let's go."


	13. Chapter 12

**September 7, 2015 – Monday, Afternoon – Sunny – Labor Day**

"Before we go inside, let's buff ourselves." Lydia said, and brought forth Ophelia, casting Sukukaja on herself, Allie, and Damien. Everyone was standing at the door to the warehouse, where F.Z. was pacing back and forth impatiently.

"Not a bad idea. Hold on a sec, I can get Ra to do the same for us." Damien looked into his mirror and watched the mirror burn up in blue flames as Ra appeared before him.

" _One set of attack boosts, coming right up."_ Ra spoke as his eyes glowed with an orange light, granting each person Tarukaja's power.

"Okay. I'm running somewhat low on energy, but this will be the last fight we'll have today, so I'm not worried. Is everyone ready?" Lydia asked, and got answers of confirmation from everyone. She took hold of the doors and threw them open in dramatic fashion, the same way she had the first time she came here.

The scenery that Lydia and Allie remembered seeing from before had changed. No longer were there doll-like figures manning the various pieces of equipment, which left the inside of the place lit only by the perpetual sunlight of the valley. Where Allie and her Idol had once stood, there was now another quartz chrysalis, which lay dormant on the ground. Once everyone stood inside, the door closed and an eerie silence settled upon them.

"I didn't expect _this."_ Damien remarked. Lydia and Allie looked at each nervously, and slowly began to approach the waiting chrysalis.

"It might look harmless now, but it's probably going to burst open the moment you get too close. I can't tell what's in it, exactly; that egg-thing it's inside of is blocking my senses." F.Z. said, and walked up past everyone to get right next to the chrysalis.

"What are you doing?!" Allie asked, afraid that the Shadow waiting within would break free. F.Z. knocked on the chrysalis and felt something moving inside of it. She then reared her foot back and kicked the chrysalis, which didn't do anything to do it except make a loud scraping noise from her quartz shoe against the quartz of the chrysalis. She then took a step back and called out to the others.

"The Shadows can't hurt me, you know! What are you worried about, you all are standing so far away I don't think it could've hurt you anyways! This thing's pretty sturdy, though. You'll probably have to use one of your Personas to crack it open." Lydia looked at Allie, who had the largest amount of mental energy remaining since she didn't have to buff the others.

"Go for it. Whatever's inside, we can handle it."

"Alright. Medusa! Break it open with Magna!" Allie's Persona came forth and brought down the earth attack on the chrysalis, which immediately cracked it. It began to shake, and everyone prepared to fight as the Shadow inside broke free, sending quartz shards everywhere.

It reminded Lydia of the very first Shadows she had fought, with its thin, wiry body and long claws for hands. Its mask was even the same shape as those first Shadows, except it was now colored like the marble from Allie's compact mirror. Unlike its weaker cousins, this particular Shadow had a growth on its head that resembled hair tied up in a bun, with spikes sticking out of it.

 _That Shadow... why does it look a little like Allie?_ Lydia quickly glanced at Allie to gauge her reaction; she looked surprised to see that it resembled her, but determination quickly replaced surprise and she began to focus.

"Burn it up, Ra!" Damien shouted, and his Persona stretched out his hand and crushed the air, causing a flame to burst from underneath the Shadow. The Shadow shrieked in pain as the attack connected. Unlike most Shadows, who were either silent or made inhuman noises upon being struck, this Shadow's scream sounded much more familiar – like it was trying to emulate Allie's voice.

"I don't know what you're supposed to be, but you're going _down!_ Rakunda!" Medusa's eyes glowed purple, enveloping the Shadow in Rakunda's aura and lowering its defense.

"Aqua." Lydia said calmly, Ophelia striking the Shadow with a blast of water. It once again shrieked in pain before clutching at its head, as if the pain was coming from inside it, and screamed as rocks formed above each person.

"Incoming!" Damien said. Thanks to their enhanced agility, everyone was able to dodge the multi-targeted earth attack.

"That's an attack Medusa knows! Marmagna, it hits every enemy on the field!" Allie said, keeping her attention on the enemy.

"If it uses earth attacks, it probably resists them, so don't be stupid and attack it with earth!" F.Z. chimed in from behind the Shadow. Allie glared at her, having already come to the same conclusion herself.

"Then I guess I'll just have to stick to physical attacks. Lunge!" Medusa drew Allie's energy into her and charged the Shadow, knocking it backwards. It was able to regain its footing just as Damien had decided to use Ra's physical attack, Rake, which involved the Persona creating a glowing set of claws at the end of his wings and scratching the Shadow with them.

It was able to withstand the hit, just in time for Ophelia's next Aqua attack to connect. The Shadow was now dripping wet and sore from being hit with two physical attacks, and decided to make its move by charging towards Damien. It ripped the mask off of its face as it came closer to him, exposing a formless face with two glowing gray lights for eyes. Its eyes shone brightly as its screamed at him, and suddenly Damien was turned to stone, Ra disappearing immediately.

"What? It petrified him!" Lydia cried out, watching the Shadow toss its mask away and scream without a mouth at her.

"We have to protect him! He's defenseless like that!" Allie said, running in front of him. She turned to Lydia and said,

"I can stop it from using that attack again. You just focus on damaging it!"

"Alright!" Lydia glared at the Shadow, mad that it had rendered her friend unable to do anything. Her own eyes briefly glowed as she ordered Ophelia to attack once more.

"Aqua." Her voice was low and angry. On the other side, Allie willed Medusa to use her newest ability, one that was capable of sealing foes' magic skills.

"Makajam!" The snakes on Medusa's head emitted jagged black-and-green waves that enveloped the Shadow right as Ophelia's empowered attack connected. The jet of water sent the Shadow flying back, its scream becoming more distorted with each hit it took. It landed on its back, momentarily unable to get up.

"Resistant to earth, huh? Then I guess Ripple Smash won't help us this time. Let's go all-out, Allie!" Lydia charged up her next attack, feeling that her buffs were about to wear off. Ophelia fired another jet of water at the defenseless Shadow, flipping it in midair as Medusa caught it, slamming it into the abandoned DJ equipment at the back of the warehouse. F.Z. quickly maneuvered over to see if the Shadow was still alive, and got her answer as it flung the equipment away from itself in rage.

"Why aren't you _dead yet?!"_ She shouted, knowing the Shadow couldn't hear her. Its eyes glowed a dark purple and it leaped onto the rafters of the warehouse, climbing along them as it approached Lydia and Allie. Damien was still petrified, a look of surprise frozen on his face. The Shadow's head twitched unnaturally as it rapidly looked between them, before it leaped off of the rafters towards Lydia. The bottom of its face split open to reveal fangs glowing dark purple, that sank into Ophelia's head as she struggled to get it off of her.

Lydia grabbed her head in pain, feeling some kind of burning hot pain flow throughout her entire body. Ophelia pried the Shadow off of her, tossing it to the ground nearby. She was panting, her aura having stripes of purple going through it to contrast the normal blue.

" _It has poisoned us. We must end this battle quickly!"_ She spoke aloud. Lydia fought through the burning and clenched her fists together. She dismissed Ophelia, and looked into her mirror to see Senri instead.

"You've done well, Ophelia. Senri! Come to me!" The mirror was consumed by flame and Senri was brought forth, immediately feeling the effects of the poison.

" _I see you have need of healing... allow me to provide it promptly."_ Senri spoke, cringing at the constant pain.

"Media." Senri nodded and twirled in a circle, healing energy flowing into both Lydia and Allie, but stopping short at Damien's petrified form and dissipating uselessly.

" _I'm sorry. Until Damien recovers, I cannot heal him."_ Lydia frowned at the knowledge, and watched as Allie ordered Medusa to Lunge at the Shadow again.

"Just die already!" She shouted, her eyes briefly glowing with resolve. Her Persona charged at the Shadow, and instead of ramming it, she grabbed it by the neck and flew towards the ceiling, before throwing it at the ground. The Shadow's voice had completely degenerated into inhuman moaning as its body was split apart from the impact, pieces of it flying in every direction. The pieces crystallized into quartz, with no quartz seeds being left behind.

"Ugh!" Damien grunted, the effects of the petrification wearing off. He stretched out as he felt the feeling in his limbs come back, noticing that the Shadow they had been fighting was gone.

"Welcome back. We defeated the enemy." Lydia said, still feeling the effects of the poison sapping her strength. She brought Ophelia to the forefront of her mind and summoned her, asking her to periodically apply Dia to her until the poison went away.

"Now I know how those Shadows Medusa petrified felt. You're still _aware_ the whole time you're a block of stone, but since all your senses are shut down, it's basically like you're alone with your thoughts the whole time. Well, and whatever Personas you have, I guess." Damien began to jog in place. F.Z. had begun to pick up the quartz pieces left behind by the Shadow, something that Allie noticed and went to help her with.

"This one left whole pieces behind? I'd say that's unusual, but that Shadow we fought was pretty unusual, too. F.Z., do you feel anything coming from the pieces?" Allie asked as she picked up a shard of quartz that looked like a jagged crowbar. The only thing separating it from the masses of quartz normally found in the valley was that it was colored similarly to her compact mirror.

"Well, for one... I can't manipulate this kind of quartz. I don't feel anything out of the ordinary about it, though. It's really pretty quartz that I can't do anything with." F.Z. responded. The two girls gathered the remaining pieces of the Shadow's crystallized body and brought them back to Lydia. She picked up one of the pieces and examined it, not feeling anything strange about it.

"Yeah. I don't know what you want me to do with this." Lydia felt the burning from the poison begin to subside, Ophelia casting another wave of Dia on her. Damien came over and took a piece of quartz from F.Z.

"I wonder how much this stuff would be worth. It looks almost like marble; do you think someone would be willing to pay good money for it?"

"Maybe. There are certain kinds of gemstones that are basically just different varieties of quartz – citrine, amethyst, jasper... but how would we explain to someone in the real world where we got these pieces from?" Allie said.

"Let's go back to the entrance. We can talk about it more on the way." Lydia said, beginning to walk back to the open doors of the warehouse.

"Well, we _do_ live in a city literally named for the stuff. We can't say we found it in one of the big quartz deposits outside of town?" Damien suggested.

"Except we're teenagers with no geological equipment. How would we have gotten the quartz out of the deposit? Not to mention that as soon as people hear there's a source of valuable quartz, they're all going to start looking for it and then wonder why they can't find it since it's not actually from the real world. Also, that's lying." Allie responded, frowning at Damien, who put his hands behind his head.

"Alright, you made your point. But if we can't sell it in the real world and if F.Z. can't do anything with it, what are we supposed to _do_ with it? Just leave it here? Hey... hold on, though. There is one other place I think might be able to do something with it. Lydia! Do you think Victor might take this quartz as a form of payment?" Lydia felt the last of the poison leave her system and dismissed Ophelia.

"I don't know. I guess it can't hurt to check. I'll try it once we get close enough." The four of them walked back to the entrance, F.Z. deciding to spawn the chairs immediately. The ghost girl walked over and handed Lydia the most normal-looking piece of quartz, a rod-shaped piece that was probably part of the torso of the Shadow it came from.

"There you go. See if he thinks it's as good as money." Lydia nodded, and entered the Velvet Room. The piece of quartz F.Z. had given her was sitting in her lap, which immediately drew the attention of Victor.

"Welcome back. How can we help you, Lydia?" He asked, his eyes shifting to look at her instead of the quartz. She picked up the piece and laid it on the table in front of her.

"My allies and I fought a Shadow whose body crystallized into pieces of quartz like this when it was defeated. We thought that you might find them valuable." Victor picked up the piece of quartz and examined it, noticing its highly unusual nature.

"A fragment of a Shadow... yes, this does carry considerable value, as it represents the fruits of your struggle against the Shadows. If I may venture a guess, you would like to use this as a form of payment for our services?"

"If that would be possible, yes. We have plenty more pieces besides just that one that I could bring you." Victor nodded in acknowledgment, and placed the Shadow fragment back on the table.

"I see. I shall withhold my appraisal until you have brought me all the fragments you have obtained, then." Lydia got up from the chair and left the Velvet Room.

"So? Yes or no?" Damien asked.

"Yes. F.Z., do you think you could create a basket or something for me to carry the fragments in?" F.Z. closed her eyes and began to gather quartz crystals from the nearby deposits.

"Now why didn't I think of that? Hmph." She began to arrange the crystals into the shape of a basket, individual pieces sliding together like interlocking blocks. When she was finished with the base, she drew an arc with the crystals for a handle. All of this was accomplished without opening her eyes, and only when she was finished did she open her eyes again.

"There you go." She handed the quartz basket to Lydia, who began picking up all the Shadow fragments.

"You didn't even look at it the whole time and it turned out great. That's pretty cool, F.Z." Damien remarked. F.Z. frowned and looked away from him.

"When you have as much time as I do, you have to find something to keep you from going crazy. Since the only things I could touch were grass and quartz, I spent a _lot of time_ messing around with them. Whatever I was doing while I was alive _had_ to have been more exciting than working with quartz all day."

"Do you have a gallery or something somewhere? If you've been sculpting for a long time, you probably have a place where you keep all of your works, right?" Allie asked. F.Z. huffed and got up from her seat, causing her chair to disintegrate.

"Do you see what just happened to my chair, Allie? Whatever I make out of quartz always ends up going that route, every single fucking time. It doesn't matter what the hell it is, whether it's a chair or a basket or a fucking _treehouse._ Everything I make eventually erodes into dust. You think the grass lasts any longer? It doesn't. It'll stay there for fucking _ever_ until I pull it to make clothes or whatever else with. Eventually, it'll do just like this..." F.Z. drew a curved line with her index finger from her neck down to her armpit, immediately withering all the grass above the line and causing it to fall off, exposing her left shoulder. Lydia had finished collecting the Shadow fragments into the basket and held off going back to the Velvet Room since F.Z. was getting upset.

"So no, Allie. I don't have a _damn gallery."_ Allie now felt bad for bringing up the subject. Damien sighed, unhappy with F.Z.'s rudeness but also understanding that it was because being alone for as long as she had had made her bitter and angry with no one to express her frustrations to.

"What, Damien? Are you going to pity me for being the poor little ghost girl with no memories and no friends?" Lydia decided that this wasn't going to end well if F.Z. kept going, so she stepped in.

"F.Z., we're not trying to make you feel bad, okay? Allie just asked you a question; she didn't know about what happens with the quartz or the grass. She didn't mean to upset you, and neither did Damien. Now, I'm going to go to the Velvet Room to see how much all of the Shadow fragments are worth. We won't talk about that anymore if it upsets you. I'll be right back." Lydia watched F.Z.'s reaction before walking away. The ghost girl shook with anger and materialized a huge spike of quartz in her hand, which she used to tear open a huge, sloppily-shaped portal back to the real world.

"Whatever. I don't feel like talking anymore, so here's your damn portal. Just leave me alone." She disappeared into the wind, and Damien and Allie looked at each other with apprehension.

"She's got some _problems_. I don't know that I want to talk to her right now, either." Damien crossed his arms, frowning. Lydia made a mental note to talk to her one-on-one after the others had left and went back into the Velvet Room.

"Here, Victor. How much do you think all these fragments are worth?" Lydia placed the basket on the table, and Victor quickly examined each piece one by one. When he was finished, he reached into his pants pocket, pulled out a wallet that had the same mask symbol from the back of the tarot cards on it, and laid out several $50 bills on the table, counting each one aloud.

"I believe this would be fair compensation for the fragments. Is this acceptable to you?" Lydia wondered for a moment how much people in the real world would pay for this much quartz, if it was valuable enough to be the kind used in gemstones. The amount of money Victor had presented to her was certainly more than an ordinary high school student would be able to come by even after several weeks of part-time work.

 _The only problem is that what Allie said about people in the real world becoming suspicious about the source of the quartz would definitely happen. Even if this quartz was worth thousands of dollars out there, it wouldn't be worth drawing people's attention to the valley. Which means... this is enough._

"Yes. Thank you, Victor." She gathered the money and put it into her dress's pocket.

"That is an interesting basket you have there. Is quartz typically used for their construction in your world?" Victor asked, finding the basket F.Z. had made to be very intriguing. Lydia got up from the chair and picked up the basket.

"Actually, this was made by a friend of mine from the other side. She can manipulate quartz and make things out of it." Victor put his hands together, his index fingers pointing upwards and touching each other. To Lydia, he seemed to be processing the information as if she had told him something completely unfamiliar.

"I see. Is there anything else you require of us today?"

"No, this will be all for now. I should get back to my friends. I'll see you later." Lydia began to walk towards the exit.

"We look forward to seeing you again." Victor said in parting as Lydia went through the door. Damien and Allie were both standing up and talking to each other about F.Z. Lydia put the basket down on the ground.

"I don't know how we could get her memories back. If she's really got amnesia about who she was and where she came from before she ended up here, the best we can do is take random shots in the dark until something jogs her memory. But I think that would just piss her off again, and then she'd pull the disappearing act and we'd have gotten nowhere." Damien said, noticing Lydia's return.

"How much did you get?" Allie asked. Lydia showed them the money. Damien raised his eyebrows and then put his hands behind his head.

"That's a lot of money, but I can't help but think we would've gotten more if we'd taken the quartz outside... and yeah, I know we just talked about all the reasons why we can't do that. In any case, that's some good money right there." He remarked. Lydia looked at the money in her hands, and wondered what the best course of action was to do with it.

 _We're going to need to set aside a portion of this for enchantments, and since I'm the one who has to front the cost for those... I don't know exactly how we'd ration the money properly._

"So, about this cash. Considering where we got it from, I think the best thing to do with it is to set it aside for official group purposes only. That means we can only use it to buy clothes and enchant them, that way people don't get too suspicious about where we're getting the money from. We may not know when there will be another person in here, but I think we can at least check here once a week." Lydia said.

"That sounds good. So, it's all $50 bills, huh... well, since you're the one who has to pay for all those enchantments, I think you should keep most of the money. As for me," Damien came up to Lydia and took a single $50 bill from her, putting it in his pocket.

"This should be enough to buy something new with." Lydia nodded, feeling that was fair. Allie came up and took a $50 bill, and then moved towards the portal that F.Z. had left behind.

"I guess we're done here, then. Lydia, you said that you probably won't have time to come back here until Saturday, right?"

"Probably. If something changes, I'll let you know, but let's plan on coming back here next Saturday."

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow, then." She disappeared through the portal.

"Don't spend it all in one place, now." Damien made a gun-pointing gesture with his hand at her before backing through the portal. Lydia looked around and took a deep breath, putting the rest of the money away in her dress's pocket.

"F.Z.! Are you there?" She called out, the silence of the windless valley drawing attention to her breathing. She waited for a few moments, hoping that she would see or hear the signs of the ghost girl's wind form.

"Damien and Allie are gone! It's just me here!" Another few moments in silence. Lydia looked at the quartz basket F.Z. had made, and saw that it was beginning to crack. She picked it up and was surprised to feel that it was much lighter, as if it had somehow lost mass from just sitting around. Whereas it had weighed several pounds when she used it to carry the Shadow fragments to the Velvet Room, now it felt as light and as fragile as a cheap wicker basket.

Her heart sank when she felt the handle crumble to dust in her hands, the basket falling to the ground in a pile of disintegrated quartz. She knelt down and gathered some of the dust in her hands, and contemplated how terrible it must have been to have to watch all of one's creations fall apart this way.

"Did you think I was lying, Lydia?" Lydia's head snapped up. She stood up and turned around to see that F.Z. was standing behind her, her arms crossed. She had a blank look on her face, which came off as jarring considering how animated and excitable she normally was.

"N-No. It's..."

"Don't say you're sorry, alright? I don't want your pity. Why are you still here? You should go home." Lydia looked into her eyes, and saw a hollow sorrow in them instead of anger. Her clothes were beginning to dry out, the grass blades turning yellow.

"I wanted to talk to you for a little bit before I left." F.Z. raised her eyebrows.

"What's there to talk about?"

"Did you... enjoy fighting the Shadows today?" The ghost girl blinked, not expecting that question from her. She thought that Lydia would've tried to make her feel better about the quartz, but here she was bringing up something that had nothing to do with it.

"Yeah. It was pretty good, helping you guys out like that." F.Z. looked away from Lydia, not wanting to meet her eyes again. She didn't want to see her own sadness reflected back at her from someone who was _compassionate._

"I'm glad to hear that. You know, there'll be a lot more days like that. There's still a lot we haven't figured out yet, and yes, I'm including you in that. You're as much a member of QIB as the rest of us." F.Z. shook her head, unable to stop herself from smiling at the mention of the silly name they had chosen to call themselves. She let her arms fall free and turned away from Lydia, a small breeze beginning to blow around her.

"Quartz Idol Busters. A bunch of teenagers without a clue fighting against something they don't understand, all because they feel it's their responsibility." Lydia walked beside her, and looked out at the endless deposits of quartz dotting the valley that went on past the horizon of the stationary sun.

"It sounds so stupid when I say it like that, but now that I know what it really feels like... I think I don't care about it as much anymore. It's the..." She stopped herself, letting out a loud, frustrated sigh. Lydia slowly closed and opened her eyes, patiently waiting for F.Z. to continue.

"You make me forget how fucked up it all is. When you're here... I don't have to think about anything else except fighting. It's probably the closest I've felt to _normal."_ The girl in the withered clothes looked over at the girl in the golden dress, and received a warm smile from her. She didn't say anything, didn't make things any more awkward by ruining the silence. She just stood there, listening.

From Lydia's perspective, she heard the sound of shattering glass, accompanied by the usual freezing of time. Between her and F.Z. materialized a tarot card with a crescent moon, one that had a face set on a green background. An animal that looked like a lobster was facing in the same direction as the moon, and at the bottom of the card was the roman numeral for eighteen.

 **Thou art I... and I am thou...**

 **Thou hast established a new bond...**

 **In thee, the Beholder's sight grows ever clearer...**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Moon Arcana...**

 _The Moon, representing creativity, mystery and illusions. It fits her so much, it hurts._

"The uh... the portal I made back there is probably going to disappear soon." F.Z. didn't know what else to say. She never felt that she was all that good at expressing herself, and was surprised that she even admitted as much as she just had to a girl she hadn't known that long. Lydia looked back and saw that the portal was shrinking, its jagged shape smoothing itself out until it was a small circle she couldn't possibly fit through anymore.

"We'll be back soon. I promise. We still have to clear out the Shadows in Damien's skyscraper, remember?" Lydia said, turning her attention to the huge quartz building. F.Z. nodded, feeling the presence of Shadows crawling inside it even from all the way over here.

"Right." She formed the screwdriver piece of quartz and tore open another portal for Lydia.

"You should go rest up for that, then. I don't want to have to cut it short because you and those other two are too tired to fight."

"Of course. See you later, F.Z." Lydia walked through the portal, and found herself back in her room. A quick look at the alarm clock told her that she'd only been away for twenty minutes in the real world. She turned on the TV and sat down on her bed, feeling tired from fighting in the valley.

 _So the portals take us back to wherever we originated from. That makes sense, I guess. Actually... I feel like watching a movie right now. I wonder if Gerald would be up to watch something with me on Zulu. In any case, I need to get myself some popcorn. Hopefully we still have some._


	14. Chapter 13

**September 9, 2015 – Wednesday, Early Morning – Sunny**

As Lydia walked into the school building, she saw a trio of girls walking down the hall towards her, each of them holding a stack of flyers. Their outfits gave off a retro '50s vibe to her, with the polo shirts and the long skirts. The girl in the middle caught her eye and stopped to talk to her.

"Good morning! Have you heard about Meet You at the Flag?" She was a pale-skinned blonde with blue-gray eyes as clear as a river and a look of sincerity that told Lydia she was about to be advertised to.

"No, I haven't. What is it?" The girl on the blonde's right, a brunette with waist-length hair, handed Lydia one of the flyers. The blonde began to explain what was written on the flyer as Lydia read it to herself.

"Every year, Christian students all over the country gather together under their schools' flagpoles to pray in the morning. It's a great way to meet new people that share your faith!" The flyer had the date listed as September 23, two weeks from now. It was meant to occur about forty-five minutes before school actually began.

 _Well, this is awkward. They assume everyone that goes to this school is Christian, or religious enough to want to take part in something like this. Then again, I guess there's no way of telling who isn't religious at a glance. In any case..._

"I... see. That's really nice, but I'm not Christian." Her words shot through the sincere smile of the blonde-haired girl like a bullet through glass, turning it into an awkward, embarrassed expression. The girls beside her had a different reaction entirely, looking offended that Lydia had said that.

"Really? Has no one ever told you about Jesus Christ?" The girl on the left spoke. She was tall with ginger hair, and had freckles all over her face.

"We'll be more than happy to tell you all about the Gospel!" The girl on the right said. The blonde girl between them sighed.

"Bethany, Joyce, it's alright. Let's just keep going."

"Victoria, it's our duty as Christians to spread the Good News to everybody! Especially people who don't even know about it. What's your name?" Bethany, the girl on Lydia's left, asked her.

"I'm Lydia. Um, I need to get to class. I don't want to be late." Joyce looked at her watch and saw that it was fifteen minutes until class started.

"We won't make you late. Just give us a few minutes, that's all we'll need." She said, showing Lydia the time on her watch. Victoria was looking increasingly stressed from the actions of the girls beside her, a reaction that was not ignored by Lydia.

"I know I have an extra Bible in my backpack somewhere..." Bethany had put the flyers down and was now rummaging through her backpack for a Bible.

"Come on, you two... we haven't even finished posting all our flyers yet." Victoria said, trying to get the other two girls to move along. Joyce gave her a puzzled look.

"The flyers can wait. This is more important." Bethany managed to find an extra Bible in her backpack, and presented it to Lydia. The Bible already had multiple bookmarks inserted in at various places, as if Bethany had expected to give it away sooner or later and prepared it for such an occasion.

"Start with the pink bookmark. There's also an insert in there for how to go about reading it, since there's a lot to look at." Bethany began to talk about how to navigate through it when Victoria pushed the Bible away from Lydia and put her stack on flyers on top of Bethany's hands.

"We need to _go_ , Bethany. Lydia, I'm sorry about this. We won't hold you up any longer. You have a nice day, okay?" Lydia nodded and immediately scooted past the girls, quickly walking away from them.

"Hey, what was that for?" She heard Bethany's voice from behind her.

"Yeah, why did you just let her go like that?" Joyce asked. Lydia looked back for a moment to see Victoria walk off down the hall, with the other two hurrying to catch up to her.

She got into Mr. Marshall's classroom and saw that her friends were already there. She sat down next to Allie, who noticed the flyer that she was holding.

"Oh, you got one of those too?" Allie asked. Lydia looked at the flyer and folded it up, putting it away inside her backpack.

"Yeah. I told those girls that I wasn't interested because I'm not Christian, which flipped a switch in two of them. They were about to do a whole proselytizing act, but the blonde girl stopped them and let me get away." Damien raised his eyebrows at that; he and Allie had run into the trio of girls on their way to class, but they hadn't really said anything to them – just a couple of words of thanks.

"Oh, man. You got unlucky there. I've seen those girls around before. They're pretty serious about trying to convert people, so they'll take any chance they get. You said there was a blonde one that let you go?" He asked.

"Uh huh. Her name was Victoria. She looked downright embarrassed by what her friends had tried to do. I'm glad _someone_ realizes that people don't really want to be preached to out of nowhere."

"Were they mean about it?" Allie asked. Lydia shook her head, noticing that Mr. Marshall had just walked into the room. Class was a few minutes from starting, as the warning bell indicated.

"No, not really... just pushy. I almost got a Bible full of bookmarks and instructions handed to me."

"Victoria. A blonde named Victoria. Yeah, I know who that is now. I have her in one of my classes – the one I don't have with either of you, Algebra II. She's a junior like us. Doesn't say much, dresses like the 1950s are in vogue again. I've never really talked to her." Damien said, putting his hands behind his head. A thought came to Lydia regarding the money her friends had taken from the selling of the Shadow fragments, it being a question she forgot to ask the other day.

"Hey, have you guys bought any new clothes yet?" She asked them.

"We were going to go tomorrow night. Are you going to be able to go with us then?" Allie asked.

"Yeah. Sounds good."

* * *

 **September 11, 2015 – Friday, Early Morning – Sunny**

Last night's trip to the mall had yielded QIB one new outfit each: for Lydia, a flowery red-and-orange shirt that had long, flowing sleeves and a pair of slim-fitting white jeans; for Damien, a gray graphic t-shirt with a giant robot on it and a pair of regular fit blue jeans; and for Allie, a jean jacket with a light pink knee-length skirt.

Lydia looked at the door to the Velvet Room and knew their new clothes were safe inside. Being infused with Senri's power had given all the clothes persistent health regeneration, in addition to the usual offensive and defensive power boosts. There was still some money left over after the enchantments, which would go towards the next round of clothes and enchantments.

 _The first home game's today. The dance team will probably get some time after school to go eat, and then I'll have to be back an hour before the game starts. That's not too bad. Everybody I know will be there – my parents, Gerald, Damien, and Allie. Well, everyone I know that's capable of showing up there. If electronics worked on the other side, I'd show F.Z. the footage of the dancing, but I guess one of these days I'll just show my part of the routine to her._

 **Friday, Evening – Clear**

Lydia arrived on the school grounds a little before an hour to game time, already wearing her dance uniform and having put on her makeup. She got to the practice room a little ahead of the other girls, and saw Carla and her lieutenants beginning to stretch alongside Dawn.

"Good, you're here early. Start warming up, Lydia." Carla said, and Lydia took her place in the formation and began to stretch. The other girls arrived and the next hour was spent preparing for the game.

"Alright, ladies, it's time to go!" Coach Carter called out to the dance team, leading them out to the football field where all the people had gathered. There was still some time before the game began, which was the time the squad would use to perform their first routine. Lydia looked around her, noticing the visiting team's dancers, cheerleaders, and football players, all decked out in an arrangement of white and purple. At home, the Ruby J. Fulton Falcons would wear red and blue jerseys, making it very easy to tell who was who on the field.

Scanning the stands allowed Lydia to find her family, who was situated somewhere in the middle section amongst the several hundred people that had shown up. Her mother had obtained a red-and-blue pinwheel from somewhere and was waving it back and forth, with Gerald holding two of those pinwheels and moving them robotically like he was trying to emulate a routine of his own. Her father merely stood beside her mother, watching with a smile on his face as he held a video camera in his hands.

The speakers then broadcast the voice of a husky man to everyone in a half-mile radius; it was the voice of the game's announcer, Lydia deduced.

"Before we begin, let us all take a moment to remember those who lost their lives in the tragedy that took place on September 11, 2001." Lydia didn't really have any memories from that day, being only two years old at the time. Her parents had told her what they were doing the day the World Trade Center was attacked: her mother was at home taking care of her and Gerald, and was the first in the family to see the news. Her father learned about it by lunchtime that day, and had come home and very emotionally told his family about how they would always stick together no matter what happened, and that he loved them all very much.

The moment of silence passed and the chatter started up again.

"So, new blood, are you ready for this?" Dawn said from beside Lydia. They had been arranged to be next to each other in the opening formation. Dawn's normally piercing gaze was amplified by the field's lighting and her makeup, which would have intimidated Lydia had she not already dealt with things that had attempted to kill her.

"Yes, of course. Are you?" Dawn closed her eyes and chuckled, briefly crossing her arms.

"Do you even have to ask? I'll show everyone just how good I really am." They both turned to face forward once again as another announcer's voice, one that sounded like young adult male's, boomed over the speakers.

"Now, then! Let's get hyped up for this game with the dancing skills of our very own _Falconettes!"_ That was their cue to go, and the girls stepped out onto the field, facing the home crowd with the lights bearing down on them. Lydia quickly scanned the stands, trying to find her friends amongst the hundreds of people. The music started before she was able to pinpoint them.

Having practiced the steps of the routine many, many times in the last several weeks, Lydia felt almost like a machine acting out its programming as she went through the 105-second routine without any problems. Having been noted as someone with previous dancing experience by Carla and Coach Carter meant that she was more-or-less in the middle of the skill hierarchy, which allowed them to give her more complicated moves to execute.

The music stopped as every girl struck a pose. The sound of the music was replaced by the sound of the crowd cheering, and after a moment the Falconettes walked off of the field to let the football players begin the game. There wouldn't be another routine until halftime, and until then Lydia could pretty much go wherever she wanted as long as she didn't wander too far away. She walked around to the east entrance to the stands where the band was situated and was greeted by Damien and Allie standing just out of sight from the field.

"Hey, Lydia! That was pretty good out there!" Damien said. Allie had been looking at her phone and closed it when she heard Damien mention Lydia.

"You definitely looked like someone who'd been doing it for years." Allie said, glancing at the football game.

"Thanks. It was alright. The coach and Carla had been drilling the steps into us every day they could, to the point where I was sure I could do the routine in my sleep. Where were you two in the stands? I wasn't able to find you two in the crowd."

"We got here a little late. Had to stop by to eat something before the game. Do you want to sit down somewhere? Maybe somewhere away from the band?" Damien walked over to see where there was open space in the stands that they wouldn't have to shout over the sound of the marching band.

"Sure!"

The first quarter of the game was, in Lydia's opinion, an example of how both teams had terrible defense. The Falcons had scored the first touchdown within minutes, and then a few minutes later gave up a touchdown to the other team, who was exploiting the defensive line's inability to keep the quarterback from safely making passes that spanned ten to twenty yards every time. At the end of the first quarter, both teams were equal at 14-14. Allie had shown little interest in the game, often getting up to walk around.

"Pretty sloppy from both teams. But hey, I think I'd rather have a high-scoring game than a 0-0 deadlock." Damien commented as Allie came back with some candy.

"Lydia, Damien, do you want some?" She asked, offering them some sugar coated licorice. They both took a piece from her. Lydia chewed off a piece and watched as the teams took the field again to begin the second quarter. The other team kicked the ball to the Falcons' quarterback, who was able to take it thirty-five yards before being tackled.

All three of them watched as the next play unfolded: the quarterback received the ball and was looking for an opportunity to pass. There seemed to be an opening on his left side, but suddenly a white jersey broke through the line of red-and-blue ones and tackled him, long before the rest of the other opposing team members could get close. Lydia could hear an audible groan from some of the people in the stands, and heard the husky-voiced announcer call the yardage lost on the play.

"Ouch. What happened with _that?_ " Damien remarked. Lydia watched as one of the Falcons shook his head, some of the other players tapping his helmet as if to tell him to clear his head. The number on his jersey was 41, and had the name "Young" written on the back.

 _Young. As in Nathan Young. He was the football player that gave that folder to Coach Carter the other week._

Being the only player she actually knew from them all, she decided to watch him in particular throughout the rest of the quarter. It was apparent as the minutes ticked by that something was getting to him, as the same fault that had occurred at the beginning at the quarter had occurred on three other occasions, each of them forcing the Falcons to give up the ball to the other team due to their lack of yardage over the first three downs of each drive. The rest of the defense had not improved a bit since the beginning of the game, which meant that at the end of the second quarter the other team was now up by two whole touchdowns without the Falcons getting a single point in edgewise.

Allie had disappeared from the stands, and many of the people in the home crowd were beginning to feel restless as their team was crumbling before them. Lydia knew that she had to be back with the rest of the squad soon, and told Damien that she was going to leave the stands in a moment.

"Got it. I guess I'll go stretch my legs a bit and find Allie. But _damn,_ though. We are really _sucking_ right now. I hope the defense gets it together for the second half. They should bench that Young guy. He's become nothing but a liability to the team." Damien got up from his seat and left the stands. Lydia went to where the dance team was gathering for their routine, which would start off the halftime performances.

 _Damien's right. Nathan has been doing really poorly this game, and the football coach is almost certainly going to put him on the bench for the rest of it just to try and make sure we don't give up any more points. I don't know what's going on with him, but I hope he snaps out of it soon._

The dance team walked onto the field, heralded by the younger announcer's enthusiastic voice. The crowd was definitely in poorer spirits than they were at the beginning of the game, and Lydia wasn't sure that a well-executed dance routine would perk them up too much. She'd always felt that the marching band was actually the most effective at getting football crowds excited, since their organizational skills inevitably resulted in them making various shapes with their members that was the easiest to comprehend in terms of detail.

The music began, a different mix of songs playing over the speakers this time. This routine was 107 seconds long, and was slightly more difficult than the routine they'd practiced for the beginning of the game. Nevertheless, Lydia felt that the motions were as natural and as fluid as running water, and finished off the routine by striking a pose where her hand was on her hip and her other hand was pointing to the poses of Carla and the lieutenants in the center, who had just finished doing a series of flips and twirls. The crowd's reaction was only slightly positive, which Lydia felt was reasonable given the state of the game so far.

"I'd be offended at the lack of reaction to our routine, but... considering how much the team caved last quarter, I don't blame the crowd. Not that much, anyway." Carla remarked as the dancers left the field. Lydia stood by the entrance to the stands Damien had used to leave and look for Allie, watching the marching band arrange themselves to begin their performance. She'd never really considered playing an instrument while growing up. At the most, she would sing to herself, which would occasionally annoy Gerald since they lived in the same room and cause him to sing something back loudly and out of tune.

Damien and Allie arrived as the Falcons band finished their performance, which had helped stir the home crowd back up near their energy levels from the start of the game. Now it was time for the visiting team's band and dance team to perform.

"Hey. Good work out there." Damien said to Lydia.

"We were watching from the sides. I don't know if you could see us, but we saw your dancing." Allie said, drinking from a bottle of cold water.

"Thanks. I'm pretty sure the band had more of an effect than we did, though. It's harder to appreciate a good dance routine, I think."

"Yeah, I'd agree. Hey, think of it this way – you got them all warmed up for the band. They owe part of their success in revitalizing the crowd to you guys." Damien twisted open the cap on his bottled cola and took a swig from it. Seeing both of her friends with drinks in their hands reminded Lydia that she hadn't had any thirst-quenching nourishment in hours.

"I just realized that I haven't had anything to drink since the game started. I need to go get some water. There's actually bottled water reserved specifically for the dance team, so that everybody gets at least one bottle. I'll be right back." She went back to where the coolers were on the side of the football team's benches and opened the blue one, pulling out a bottle from the half-melted slush of water and ice. She opened it and took huge gulps from it before shivering from the sudden infusion of cold into her head.

The Falcons had begun to trickle back in from the locker room, and were talking amongst themselves as they gathered around the benches. After a few minutes, Coach Hudson brought up the rear, took a quick look at the players, and then opened his binder, looking through what was most likely the team's playbook. He then blew his whistle, gathering all the football players together to go over plays. Lydia stood there holding her water bottle as murmurs from the players apparently set off something in their coach, as he narrowed his eyes and did a quick counting motion before closing his binder in frustration and holding it closed with both hands.

"So... you're telling me Young just went AWOL on us? Up and disappeared to who-knows-where?" He said, trying to keep his composure. Lydia was too far away to have heard this, but the quarterback's loud voice was something she could hear easily.

"I swear, Coach, he was there a minute ago, washing his face in the mirror. I knew he was taking a long time, and I told him to get out of la-la-land, but he wouldn't listen. Then I leave him for a minute to grab my helmet and put it on, and when I go back to yell at him, suddenly he isn't there any more!" Coach Hudson considered the quarterback's words for a moment before shaking his head in disapproval. Lydia drew in a sharp breath at the quarterback's description of what had happened.

 _A mirror... he was washing his face in front of one, and then he suddenly vanishes? Does that mean he was taken to the other side?_

"It doesn't matter, anyway. I was going to put in someone else regardless. Jamison!" The coach's attention turned towards a blonde-haired player with his helmet off.

"Go back to the locker room and see if you can't find Young. If he's not there, look around the rest of the building. If you still can't find him, come back and let me know."

"Okay!" Jamison nodded, running back towards the locker rooms. Lydia quickly walked back to where Damien and Allie were standing.

"Guys, we have a problem."

"What is it? You look like you heard something terrible. What, is Coach Hudson cursing out the team for sucking so bad, or something?" Damien said, drinking some more of his cola.

"No. Listen, we need to go somewhere we won't be heard. Come on!" Lydia walked past them and left the stands, and decided that the top of a hill several yards away from the back of the stands was a good enough place. They followed her to where she had walked, confused.

"What's going on, Lydia?" Allie asked.

"Nathan Young just went missing during halftime. I heard it from the players down on the field; he was apparently washing his face _in front of a mirror_ and then up and vanished when the quarterback went to go yell at him for taking too long." Damien looked over towards the locker rooms and sighed, a sinking feeling coming upon him at the news.

" _Damn it._ Seriously? Did somebody actually _see him vanish?_ "

"I don't think so. From what the quarterback said, it sounded like he was the last one in there." Damien took another swig from his cola and let out a breath.

"So... what are you saying? We're going into the valley _right now?_ " Allie asked. She _did_ have her mirror with her, but Damien's was in his car and she had no idea where Lydia's was.

"Yeah. My mirror's in my bag, which is in the dancers' changing room. There are mirrors literally everywhere in our practice room – we can use those to get to and from the other side without being seen since nobody's back there right now. The third quarter's about to start, which means if this goes like it has been the past several times, we should be back before the quarter even ends. The only problem is that we'll probably be exhausted afterwards... but it's not like any of us _have_ to be there for the rest of the game. If we need to, we can rest in the practice room and get back before the game ends."

"Alright. Sounds like a plan. If he really is over there, it'll be obvious the moment we step inside. If he's not, we'll come right back." Damien said.

"Yes. It's possible he might not be over there, but we won't take that chance. Damien, your mirror is still in your car, right?" Allie looked towards the parking lot.

"Yeah. I gotta go get it. I also don't really know where the dancers' practice room is, so... mind waiting for me here?"

"No problem. We'll all go together." Lydia said, and watched as Damien ran off down the hill towards the parking lot. She looked up at the sky and saw the moon had only a sliver of visible light left. The powerful stadium lights ensured that any of the less visible stars were impossible to see, even though the sky was completely clear.

"You know, back in my hometown... late at night, if you went out a little past the city limits, you could actually see _all_ the stars." Lydia said, drinking some more of her water. Allie looked up at the night sky.

"Crystal Rapids, right? I can only imagine how beautiful that must look. I've lived here all my life, and considering we're between two of the most visited places in Texas, I've never had the opportunity to see the sky without all the light from civilization getting in the way. I'm sure I could look up photographs of it online, but... it wouldn't be the same as actually getting to see it in person."

"I wish I could show it to you. My family has a telescope at home, but we haven't really used it since we moved in. I don't think that thing will see any real use, though. You could probably still see an okay amount from a dark spot around here, but it'd pale in comparison to the skies around Crystal Rapids." Allie looked around at the stars she could see; there were a few dots scattered here and there, mostly the bright stars that likely anyone not directly living in a big city could see. The moon was almost new, meaning that the conditions for stargazing would almost be as good as they were going to get.

The two girls waited around until Damien came back, running towards them with his mirror in hand.

"Alright. Let's get going." The noise from the crowd behind them signaled the start of the third quarter. Lydia led her friends away from the football field and back to the building where the dance team practiced. As she had predicted, no one was inside, and the three of them stepped into a darkened practice room.

"Where is that light?" Lydia said, looking around for the light switch. She felt along the walls near the door until she found it, and then flicked it on. All the mirrors set along one of the walls made the room look twice as big as it really was. Every movement they made was copied by their images across the mirrors.

"I'll be right back." Lydia went back into the changing room, leaving Damien and Allie alone with the mirrors.

"Sheesh. Can you imagine what would happen if somebody's Idol decided to pop up in one of these things? What if it happened during one of Lydia's dance practices? There's no way that wouldn't make national news." Damien said, imagining one of the girls randomly stopping during a routine to stare at herself and then disappearing into the valley.

"Well, there's already been a whole string of disappearances that no one can explain. We know how it happens, kind of... but we don't know _why_ it happens. You're right about one thing, though. If someone's Idol were to manifest in this room and other people were present, they would almost certainly see it happening." Allie said, waving her arms in front of the mirrors and watching her reflection copy her actions. Lydia came out from the changing room with her mirror and stood beside her friends.

"Okay. Are you ready?" She asked.

"Let's get this done." Damien said, looking at his mirror.

"Yeah. We can save him, no problem."

The three of them calmed themselves and gazed into their own reflections in the mirror, watching as each of their images began to change into silhouettes with moving zebra stripes.

 _I hadn't expected to go and save someone in the middle of a football game like this. If it wasn't for me standing there and overhearing the football team's conversation, we wouldn't have known someone was missing until tomorrow. We don't even know how long people last in there before they meet with their Idols. If time seems to flow more quickly on the other side, it wouldn't take very long... but that doesn't matter right now. We **will** save Nathan from himself._


	15. Chapter 14

**September 11, 2015 – Friday, Evening – Clear**

The three juniors landed in the valley, and looked around to see if there were any new structures. The wind blew in from behind them, with F.Z. showing up in an entirely new grass-and-quartz outfit, one that made her look like a cheerleader with its sleeveless top, short skirt, and quartz shoes that looked more or less like tennis shoes.

"Well, looks like you all showed up right on time. Guess where I've just been." F.Z. stood with her arms crossed and her legs spread apart. QIB looked behind her and saw a huge stadium made out of quartz, with a jumbotron visible from where they stood displaying what appeared to be a football game already in progress.

"You already scouted out the place? That's convenient." Damien said, taking in F.Z.'s new appearance. She must have seen something in there that looked like a cheerleader – probably a Shadow – and copied its outfit.

"You all got here late. What else was I supposed to do? That guy's already been in there for a while now. His Idol is apparently coaching him or something on how to be a better football player. I don't know how much longer it's going to be before he gives into it, so let's get going already!"

"In a minute. I need to get our clothes out of the Velvet Room." Lydia went into the Velvet Room and saw Victor looking at her intensely, with a closed hand in front of his lips. She figured he was probably studying how she looked while wearing her dancing outfit and its intentionally thick makeup.

"Hey, Victor. I'm here to retrieve those clothes you enchanted."

"I see. They are waiting for you in the Wardrobe." She got up from the guest's chair and took her friends' outfits off of the rack. Her own new outfit was there, ready and waiting to go, but she didn't feel like having to change out of her dancing outfit. It was possible this wouldn't be the last time she'd have to do a mission wearing this getup, so...

"I need you to enchant the outfit that I'm currently wearing. Use Senri for it." The outfit didn't have any pockets, but Lydia had managed to take some money out of her bag when she went to retrieve her mirror and kept it with her until now. Victor nodded and took the money, opening the Persona Compendium and drawing out Senri's Persona card. He infused her power into Lydia's dancing outfit, and then she took her friends' outfits off the rack.

"Hold on. Let me take Fortuna out of the Compendium." There had been enough money left over from the enchantment to draw out one of her other Personas. Victor took the rest of her money and retrieved a copy of Fortuna's Persona card from the Compendium, giving it to Lydia. The card disappeared into her hand and she felt Fortuna's presence in her mind once again.

"Thanks. I'll see you again soon." She left the Velvet Room and gave Damien and Allie their outfits.

"F.Z., raise a wall of quartz so they can get changed." F.Z. made a grabbing motion towards one of the quartz deposits and pulled upwards, creating a wall several feet higher than all of them. Damien went behind the wall while Allie remained on the other side, and both of them began to change.

"Alright. What about you? You're not gonna change?" F.Z. asked Lydia.

"I didn't feel like it, so I had Victor enchant what I was already wearing. I get the feeling this probably isn't the last time I'll have to come over here in the middle of a football game, so I just thought ahead." F.Z. nodded in understanding.

"That explains the makeup then. I always thought it looked tacky as hell. You wouldn't actually wear that crap otherwise." Lydia snickered at the ghost girl's honest remark. It also then occurred to her that she had used the word "always", as if she already knew what that sort of makeup looked like and had decided it was tacky a long time ago.

"Always? When was the last time you saw something like this?" F.Z. blinked, opening her mouth to respond before realizing she didn't have an answer.

"Uh. Shit. I... I don't know." She stood there for a moment, trying to figure out where she could have possibly seen that look before. It wasn't the Shadows – they all wore masks, even the cheerleader-looking ones she'd seen hanging out near the stadium.

"Maybe your memories are coming back to you." Allie said, putting on the jean jacket over her shirt. F.Z. pondered over whether or not this could be true, and met Lydia's curious eyes for a moment before turning away.

"I don't know. It's not important right now, anyway. We have to go save that guy Nathan."

"Alright, I'm done!" Damien called from the other side of the wall.

"Me too." Allie said. F.Z. brought down the wall.

"You've already been there, F.Z., so tell us about what kinds of Shadows there are in there." Lydia said, all four of them walking towards the stadium made out of quartz.

"It's not like the other dungeons you guys have been in. Fighting through the Shadows probably won't take you too long; you just have to get to the field where Nathan and his Idol are, the rest doesn't matter. The Shadows are one of four things: football players, cheerleaders, dancers, or support staff. You all aren't stupid, so I think you can guess what each of those is probably going to do." They came to one of the many entrances to the stadium, and saw that the nearby quartz deposits were reacting to their presence.

From the quartz sprouted more than ten Shadows, all of them different shapes and sizes. Their weapons seemed to be improvised from various objects one wouldn't think could be weapons: some were holding footballs, others helmets, and a few even held cushy stadium seats.

"Okay, those were _not here_ when I came last time. They all look pretty weak to me, though. Don't you all have something that can hit multiple enemies at once?" F.Z. said as the Shadows moved on the party.

"Yeah. Ophelia, let's go! Maraqua!" Lydia looked into her mirror and watched as the flames consumed it, bringing forth her Persona. Ophelia waved her right arm out and sent a wave of water flowing at the Shadows, stalling them for a moment.

"Football fans, really? Ra! Maragi!" Damien summoned Ra, who snapped his fingers together and caused fire to erupt underneath each of the Shadows, immediately killing some of them and slowing down the rest.

"That makes sense, I guess. Medusa, use Marmagna!" Allie's Persona appeared and made a pushing motion towards the Shadows. Rocks scattered about all over them, killing all but one of them, which had managed to avoid the landslide. This last Shadow marched towards them with its stadium seat in hand, and bashed Ra with it. Damien flinched as he felt the sensation of being whacked with a heavy cushion, and then broke out into laughter at how pitiful the attack was.

"Seriously? How lame! Let's not waste our energy on this thing. I've got this. Rake!" Ra generated his glowing claws and ran them through the final Shadow, tearing it to shreds. Out of all the Shadows, not a single quartz seed was left behind as a reward.

"Nothing. Okay, let's get inside that stadium. F.Z., you know the quickest way to get to Nathan, so you lead the way." Lydia said.

"Leave it to me. Come on!" She led QIB into the stadium, where they came across a set of concession stands selling nothing, all manned by Shadows. A pair of bulky football player Shadows without their helmets turned around to face them; their masks were an ivory white with a black cross engraved into them.

"Throw your magic at them! They've gotta be weak to at least one of your attacks!" F.Z. urged. Lydia switched to Fortuna and brought her out.

"Focus all your attacks on one of them. If you strike a weakness, hit the other one with it!" Lydia said, and had Fortuna lead off with a Garu spell. The gust of wind shook the Shadow, but it still stood upright after the blast.

"You got it! Agi!" Damien shouted. Ra crushed the air with his fist and burned the Shadow, which set its clothing on fire and caused it to fall on its back, groaning.

"Oh, yeah. Again!" Ra repeated the action on the other Shadow, making it fall over.

"Time for a Fusion Spell!" Allie said, looking to Lydia to give the signal.

"It's only two Shadows. Use your single-target attacks on the weaker Shadow! Go!" Lydia had Fortuna charge up a Bufu spell, and watched as her friends' Personas gathered their respective elemental energies.

"Now, fire!" Fire and ice collided on top of the Shadows at the same time the rock fell onto it, causing the rock to explode with a burst of pressurized steam, killing it and sending the other Shadow flying into the concession stand, destroying it.

" _That attack should be called Decompresser."_ Medusa remarked. The Shadows that were manning the empty concession stands broke out of the wreckage created from the collision of the football player Shadow, the three of them all beginning to crackle with electricity. The football player Shadow attempted to get up, but stumbled over its own feet and fell over again.

"Looks like you pissed them off!" F.Z. said, and watched as each Shadow cast Zio on each party member. Medusa shrugged off the attack, whereas Fortuna and Ra took the normal amount of damage.

"Don't mess with us. Marmagna!" Medusa made a swatting motion with her arm and dropped rocks on all of the Shadows, killing the football player and damaging the concession stand workers. Lydia returned Fortuna to her mirror and brought forth Ophelia.

"This should do it. Maraqua!" Ophelia sent a wave of water at the electrically-charged Shadows, shorting them all out and killing them. Five quartz seeds were left behind, one for each defeated Shadow. Unlike before, they did not immediately sprout into quartz vines.

Lydia looked down at the seeds and saw silhouettes of cards floating at eye level above the seeds, each of them having a different color radiating softly from them.

"What's going on? Shouldn't the seeds have sprouted already?" Allie asked. Lydia went over to where one of the silhouettes was and held the card with the soft green light. Rays of light extended out from it to all the other cards, but they were dotted lines instead of solid ones, as if highlighting possibilities.

"When I did my first Persona fusion, I was told by Igor that my power as the Beholder had grown stronger. He said that I'd be able to 'influence the seeds of opportunity', or something like that. This must be what he was talking about. I guess... I get to pick one more card, maybe?" Lydia followed the dotted line leading to the card glowing gray, and held it. The dotted line connecting the two cards immediately turned solid white, causing the other dotted lines to go flying in all directions as they faded away. The connected quartz seeds sprouted towards each other, their vines intertwining with each other as they rose upwards alongside the other quartz vines.

At the vine's blooming flower was a Persona card with a green border, with the number two in two of the corners and the symbol of the wand in the other corners. Lydia took the card and felt the sensation of both a new Persona and extra power flow into her, and heard the voice of her newly obtained Persona in her head describe what had just happened.

" _I am Anzu, and by your gift, the power you have obtained for your allies has also been granted to me. We are now that much closer to a breakthrough in our development."_ Anzu appeared to be a kind of bird man with a lion's head, and among his abilities were a heightened sense of awareness that told Lydia there were still several more Shadows between them and the football field.

"It's a bonus. I can fuse two cards together and get something better than the individual cards." Lydia said as she felt Fortuna learn Magaru. Other than the heightened sense of awareness, Anzu only had one skill that the party didn't already have: the ability to enrage a single enemy, called Balzac. Lydia wondered how useful that would be in a fight versus just pouring out more damage; Medusa's petrification seemed plenty enough for her liking.

"Cool. Yeah, thanks to that card you drew, Ra has another physical attack. It's literally twice as good as Rake; it's called Double Shot. No points for guessing why." Damien said, looking up from his mirror.

"Medusa's physical attack has also gotten better. It can now potentially poison the enemy. She calls it Viper Strike." Allie closed her compact mirror.

"Great! Let's move on, then. F.Z., what did you see up ahead?"

"More of the same. You won't see anything new until you're almost at the entrance to the stadium. Come on!"

The three of them fought through multiple waves of Shadows, Damien and Allie focusing more on using physical attacks since the enchantments provided by Lydia and the mass healing Senri could do offset the cost after a while. Ophelia's single-target water attack had grown stronger, and as a result she renamed the attack Aques, to differentiate it from the previous form Aqua. They came to an open gate at the beginning of a long hallway, where the sunlight from outside was visible at the end of it.

"You can see the field from here. By the time we get over there, we'll probably have to deal with Nathan's Idol, so... make sure you're ready. I don't want any of you dying on me." F.Z. said, giving them all a narrow-eyed look. Lydia looked at Damien, thinking about the last time they faced a strong enemy.

"The same buffs as before? Agility and power?"

"Sounds good. I've got the energy to spare." The both of them called forth their Personas and put Sukukaja and Tarukaja on the party. Allie felt Medusa prodding at her to say something.

"That last encounter gave Medusa a new way to weaken enemies: it's called Tarunda. It'll lower a single enemy's strength for a while. Considering that Nathan's a football player, it's probably safe to assume his Idol will have a lot of physical strength, so that'll be really useful to us."

"Yes, definitely. Come on! We can't keep him waiting." Lydia led them down the long hallway, surprised that not a single Shadow appeared to stop them. There were plenty of Shadows in the surrounding area, but for some reason, the actual path to the football field was completely empty.

 _There has to be a reason for that. If I had to make a guess... it's like they knew we were coming. The Shadows themselves have gotten stronger, too. Maybe they're starting to wise up to us... in which case we'll really need to be more vigilant in the future._

They arrived at the end of the hallway, and found the sun beating directly down upon them as they stepped out onto the sidelines of the football field. The stadium was made entirely out of alternating stripes of red and blue-tinted quartz, arranged so that every row of seats was the other color. The goal posts were fashioned from white quartz, and the surface directly surrounding the field was also made of that same quartz. On the field itself were many figures in numberless jerseys running around, executing a football play. The jerseys' colors corresponded exactly to the colors of the teams that had been playing in the real world that night, and one jersey in particular stood out: the only one with a number, whose wearer had broke away from the group of other players to see the faceless ball carrier run into the end zone and score a touchdown.

Every player besides Nathan dissolved into the air as soon as the football made it into the end zone, which drew everyone's attention to another figure that was standing on the sidelines: a heavy-set, clearly muscular bigger version of Nathan wearing a tight white polo shirt, a navy blue visor, a set of white tennis shoes, and an enormous red headset with a microphone. The blue aura that surrounded him was easily visible even half a football field away.

" **Now that was one hell of a game! Well done, man!"** He clapped in admiration of the successful play, and picked up a cylindrical cooler full of a red energy drink and ran over to a helmetless Nathan, dumping the whole cooler on top of him. This struck Lydia as being strange, since it was typically the _coach_ that got dunked with the cooler full of energy drink or water or whatever after a win, not one of the players. Although they were halfway across the field, the ethereal, echoing voice of Nathan's Idol could be heard clearly over the speakers built into the field. The jumbotron at one end of the field had been displaying the image of Nathan and his Idol standing next to each other, before the image cut to a shot of the QIB members watching them.

" **Well, now... do we have some adoring fans come to ask you for autographs?"** Nathan's Idol asked. Nathan looked over and saw a dancer wearing the Falcons' colors next to three people he'd never seen before, one of whom was a half-visible Hispanic girl wearing what looked like a cheerleader uniform made out of grass and rocks. He followed the buffer coach version of himself over to where these people were running up to meet him, and recognized the dancer as that girl Lydia he'd met when he was sent to deliver that folder to Coach Carter.

"Lydia? Is that you?" Nathan said, looking down at her.

"Yeah! Listen, Nathan... we need to get you out of here. That other you there, that's your Idol, it's-"

" **Do you see how great it is to have fans, Nathan? These people came all the way out here just to see _you!_ It's because you made all the difference in the game you just played. What did I tell you, man? I told you I could make you the MVP of the team in no time flat. Just imagine it. You'll be the next Ronnie Football, the next freshman from Texas to win that coveted trophy."** Nathan's Idol turned and looked his other self in the eyes.

" **I know you want it. I can see it in your eyes, you have the heart of a champion. After all, we're the same guy. The only difference between me and you is one little word, and that word is yes. Say yes to me, and we'll get back out there and crush the competition."** He extended his hand forward, waiting for Nathan's handshake. He hesitated, taking a moment to consider the words his other self had said to him.

"Nathan, man, I know that sounds like a good deal, but really think about it." Damien began to speak, slowly approaching the two of them.

"If that was really possible for you, don't you think scouts would have come out here to see you already? Those guys make their living on picking out the cream of the crop, and I know it probably pisses you off to hear it coming from some guy you've never met, but you're _not that good._ You might not be _terrible,_ but I don't think you're cut out for college football. What Lydia called the other you is an Idol – it's what you think you really want to be. Don't _listen to it,_ it's-"

" **I think I've had about enough out of you. It's not your decision. Forget about him, Nathan. What does he know? It's only the first game of the season. We can turn it around! We'll show him and everybody that doubted us that we _can_ make a difference."** Nathan sighed, unable to forget what Damien had just said to him. The truth stung, and there was nothing the other him could do to argue against those points the guy with a robot on his shirt had made. But his Idol also had said something that resonated in him – the hope that he could make a difference, that something he did would actually be helpful to others and appreciated by them.

"You _can_ make a difference. It doesn't have to be in sports... you have so much to look forward to, there are plenty of other ways you can do something meaningful!" Allie said, going along with what Damien and Nathan's Idol had said. The Idol looked visibly upset at how these others were making his other self unwilling to commit to him, and was about to yell at them when Nathan spoke up.

"I hate to say it, but... you're right. Everybody's right. I used to be good at the game. I used to enjoy it, big time. Then I started making all those mistakes last season, and everyone's opinion of me went downhill. Now I just suck. Whoever you two are, you're talking something real. My dad always encouraged me to follow my dreams, and for what it's worth, I don't dream of being a football star anymore. I don't know what the heck else I'd do, but that's what college is for, right? So other me, thanks for the offer, but I don't want to be like you anymore." QIB braced themselves at those words, all of them stepping backwards as they watched his Idol's reaction. He had closed his eyes and bit his lip at the rejection, and removed his huge headset.

" **That's it? Just like that, all the work you've put into being a good football player is going down the toilet?"** His aura began to turn black, and his body slowly began to flash with moving black-and-white stripes.

"Nathan, get over here! He's dangerous!" Lydia ran over and pulled at Nathan's arm. The football player's eyes widened at what was happening to his other self, and he readily went along with Lydia and her friends.

"What the heck is going on? He really didn't like that, did he?" He asked.

" **No, Nathan, I _didn't!_ If you're going to be an ungrateful SOB, then you'll be _punished like one!"_ ** His body flashed and began to encase itself in quartz. Nathan instinctively stepped back farther and farther, looking towards the exits. The gates that had previously been open were now shut tightly, meaning he and the others would have to climb the stands if they wanted to have any chance of escaping.

"Allie, make sure you use Tarunda on him the moment he pops out. We all should focus exclusively on magic attacks since he's probably going to resist physical ones. F.Z., you get Nathan away from here and then help us out." The quartz chrysalis grew in size until it was half as tall as the goal posts. As it reached its full-grown height, it glowed with a cross-hatched red-and-blue stripe pattern, with a white circle beginning to form around the center of it.

"It's doing something different this time! Call your Personas!" The three Persona-users brought forth their Personas right as the chrysalis exploded, sending out a wave of white light that engulfed everyone.

Lydia found herself positioned beside midfield in between F.Z. and Allie. Damien had somehow been forced into one of the visiting team's uniforms, and found himself in the quarterback's position behind Nathan across from the Idol's monstrous form. It was as if a whole line of defensive football players had merged into one continuous phalanx, with their arms and legs merged together. Each of the eleven members of the phalanx were faceless except for the one in the center, which stood a head above the others with Nathan's face and an extra set of arms and legs that moved independently of the others in the formation.

" **I am an Idol! I'm the man you've always wanted to be, and I'll prove it to you!"** He shouted. Nathan looked up and felt as small as an ant before the monstrosity that had just warped him in front of it, and froze, dropping the football that had appeared in his hands. What had just happened? What was this _giant thing_ in front of him that looked like it wanted to crush him like a bug?

He didn't know what he was supposed to do, and now it was probably going to get him killed, he thought.


	16. Chapter 15

**September 11, 2015 – Friday, Evening – Clear**

"Ra, use Maragi on that thing!" Damien shouted. He ran up to Nathan as the Idol began to crouch and pulled him by the arm, which broke him out of his paralyzed state and turned him away from the Idol. Ra's fire targeted every individual player that made up the Idol.

"It moved us over here... Ophelia, Maraqua!"

"Medusa, use Tarunda!" The two other Personas took their positions alongside Ra and let loose their attacks, which came after each other in succession. This did not stop the Idol from taking a running stance and charging forward across the field, ramming all three Personas and catching up to Nathan and Damien fairly quickly. Nathan found that the football had reappeared in his hands, and wondered just what was happening that would cause it to do that when he didn't remember having it a minute ago.

"Ow. Even with Tarunda, he still hits like a truck... we have to get onto the field!" Lydia said, and tried running onto the grass before crashing into an invisible wall that had appeared on the border between the grass and the sidelines.

"Are you okay?" Allie said. Lydia got up and let out a frustrated sigh, and then walked along the sidelines with her arms outstretched, trying to find any more invisible walls.

"It's barring us from getting in there, even though our Personas aren't affected by it. F.Z., can you get through it?" The ghost girl took a few steps forward and made it onto the field as if the barrier wasn't there.

"Whatever magic it pulled to keep you guys out doesn't affect me. I'll see if it has any weaknesses!" She dissolved into wind and reformed in front of the Idol, trying to see if there was anything they could exploit in their favor.

"Lydia, this thing hits like a truck! Mind giving me a defense boost?" Damien said, feeling bulky in the football uniform.

"Got it! Rakukaja!" Ophelia extended her arm out and made a burst of purple energy flare up from underneath Damien, granting him more durability.

"What am I supposed to do?" Nathan said, trying to comprehend what was unfolding in front of him. Lydia and her friends had summoned these levitating humanoid creatures with magical powers against the thing they had called his Idol, which was trying to kill them because he said something that really ticked it off. Damien turned his head back momentarily and said,

"Run away! Get off the field!" That made enough sense to him, so he ran with the football towards the sidelines and slammed into an invisible wall, which knocked him on his behind.

"Let me try and get around this thing... Ra, Maragi!" Damien began to dash to his left, hoping to turn the Idol's attention towards him instead of Nathan as Ra attacked it with fire. It was only after he began his run that he noticed Nathan had been unable to escape the field, and that the Idol had no interest in him whatsoever. Lydia and Allie both tried to slow it down with another round of attacks, but it powered through the damage and kept charging towards Nathan.

"Hey, Nathan! Get your ass over here!" F.Z. shouted, drawing the football player's attention. Seeing that she was standing at an angle where the Idol wouldn't be able to reach, he ran as fast as he could with the football still in his hands as the Idol maintained a straight line running forward. The player on the end clipped him in the shoulder, sending him spinning towards the ground as the football flew from his hands. Instead of crashing into the barrier, the Idol went through it and emerged back onto the field facing directly towards the end zone, roughly at where the center of it had left the field.

" **You'll have to be quicker than that to get past me, Nathan!"** The Idol bellowed, before letting out a deep, throaty laugh. Lydia saw this unfold and felt that brute force was probably not going to work quickly enough for Nathan to survive being trampled by his Idol. Why did the football appear back in his hands after he'd dropped it before? Did the Idol want Nathan to do something with it...?

"Guys, we have to try something different! The Idol seems to want Nathan to play a game of football! We should try and help him get across the field!" Damien heard that as he went to help Nathan back up. He looked up at Ra and had an idea; he and the other Personas could _fly._ As tall as the Idol was, wouldn't it be possible to fly over him while holding Nathan? If that's what it was going to take to beat him...

"Nathan, hold onto the ball! Lydia, Allie, I need you guys to cover me!" Damien said as he called Ra down to come pick up Nathan.

"Uh, okay? What are you- aah!" Nathan gasped as Ra lifted him into the air.

" _Stay still. We are going to help you cross the field."_ Ra spoke, beginning to fly over the Idol.

"I'm going to try and focus on the center. Allie, you keep using Marmagna." Lydia said, and called out her next move.

"Ophelia, Aques!" The water around Ophelia gathered into a larger jet of water, and instead of merely stretching her hand out to send out the attack, she swept her hand upwards as if she was flipping over something. The water connected with the Idol at the same time Allie's attack landed, briefly distracting it and allowing Ra to fly over it with Nathan in his arms. He carried him all the way across the field and let him down in front of the end zone.

" **No! That's _cheating!"_** The Idol screamed, deciding to cast Tarukaja on himself. Immediately afterwards, he decided to charge towards the only thing he could focus on: the Personas that had recently attacked him.

" _Go! Make the touchdown!"_ Ra said. Nathan nodded and ran towards the end zone as the Idol began his charge towards the Personas. As soon as he got into the end zone, the football shot upwards out of his hands and arced towards the Idol, having turned into a fast-moving energy bullet. Having seen what Ra had just done to evade the Idol, Ophelia and Medusa levitated upwards, but the Idol then jumped into midair, all of his constituent parts acting in unison to try and ram them down from the air.

The football collided with him in the second before it reached the Personas, infusing him with glowing white energy and engulfing the stadium in a white light. In the next moment, everyone found themselves reset to their original positions from the start of the fight: the Idol and Nathan stood directly across from each other, Damien some distance behind, and the girls by the side of midfield. The only difference was that everyone was now facing the opposite direction.

"We reset? Lydia, this really _is_ a football game!" Damien said. F.Z. immediately decided to turn into wind and arrive in front of the Idol, standing between him and Nathan.

"He's still got the attack boost from earlier! Get rid of it!" She called. Nathan saw the imposing monster in front of him and the translucent cheerleader between them calling out updates with no fear whatsoever, and realized that everyone really was working together to not only save him, but to take this thing down.

"What do _I_ do?" He shouted. Were they just going to repeat the same strategy? Would the Idol fall for the same trick twice?

Lydia and Allie were running downfield where the Idol was facing so that Nathan could see them.

"Nathan, run back so that we have space to work with! Allie, you heard F.Z." Nathan did as he told and turned tail, running with the football towards Damien as the girls began their attacks.

"Ra, burn 'em up!" Damien ran with Nathan as Ra floated backwards, snapping his fingers and setting all of the Idol's parts on fire. Ophelia floated behind the Idol and sent out the wave of water that made up Maraqua, while Medusa floated beside her and created a cascading ball of orange energy on top of the center of the Idol. The attacks seemed to have more of an effect since the football bullet struck him, as all of the smaller players reacted with pain.

" **I'm going to blitz you!"** The Idol bellowed, and proceeded to split up all of his individual components, each player sprouting the necessary limbs it needed in order to move on its own. He punched one of his hands with a fist, emitting a green glow that caused green-tinted energy to erupt from underneath each individual player in succession. Lydia recognized this as the same glow Sukukaja made it when it was cast, except the Idol had used it on all of his allies pretty much at once.

" _That ability is the stronger form of Sukukaja. It is called Masukukaja."_ Ophelia helpfully pointed out in her mind. She watched as all of the individual players ran forwards, the extra agility from Masukukaja allowing them to sprint across the field with ease. Within seconds, they were able to catch up to Nathan and Damien.

"Oh no you don't!" Damien tackled one of the players that was about to lunge at Nathan, knocking it to the ground. He knew that back in the real world, him being able to take down an eight-foot football player would be impossible – but these were Shadows and he had the power of his own Persona and of Lydia's to give him the necessary strength. Nathan kept on running as the rest of them were catching up to him.

" _We're going up again!"_ Ra said as he swooped in to lift up Nathan, pulling him above the reach of the Shadows as they all attempted to pile onto him before he was lifted out of their range. Damien's Persona now began to fly back across the field, which caused the Idol to stamp his feet against the ground in rage.

" **I _hate cheaters!_ Stop _doing that!_ " **The Idol raised his arms and fired a jet of water at Ra, which caused him to drop Nathan.

"Ophelia, grab him!" Lydia said, and felt Ophelia rushing over to catch him. She was able to catch him right before he hit the ground, and Lydia felt the strain from Ophelia holding him in her arms.

" _That was close. I can't quite lift you across the field like Ra can, but perhaps someone else might be able to..."_ Ophelia said. Lydia took that as a signal to change Personas, and she dismissed Ophelia and called out the only Persona she had that possessed any sort of physical prowess – Anzu. The birdman with a lion's face reappeared where Ophelia had just been and lifted Nathan back into the air, his additional strength alleviating the strain on Lydia.

"Guys, I need you two to keep those football players off of me!" Lydia said as she began to run back the other way. Allie ran behind her, and F.Z. ran across the field keeping tabs on the Idol.

"I wish I knew what this asshole was doing before he did it! Ugh!" F.Z. threw daggers of quartz at the Idol in frustration, only to have them harmlessly pass through him and land onto the ground next to him. The football players all began a mad dash towards the end zone as Anzu flew towards it with Nathan in his arms. Damien ran across the field, trying to ignore the bulky football gear as he followed the football players.

"You got it! Ra, let's do it! Maragi!" From his position a few feet above the ground, Ra snapped both fingers. Damien's eyes flashed from across the field, and fireballs sparked into existence in front of all eleven Shadows, slowing all but the one in the center down.

"You're not catching him this time! Medusa!" Allie's eyes flashed, and Medusa screeched as she pushed her hands outward, sending a storm of rocks falling onto the Shadows as Ra's fireballs connected, knocking all but the big one down onto the ground. Nathan's other self continued to charge forward despite taking more damage, and was about to catch up with Anzu when Nathan decided to speak up.

"We're almost there! If you let me go, you can stop him! I can do this myself!" Lydia heard his words and noticed that they were nearly ten yards away. Anzu needed to put him down at some point and if the Idol caught up, it could stand in the end zone and keep Nathan from scoring. It would be tough, but if Nathan could land on his feet, he might be able to do it...

" _As you wish, then. Go! Bring us victory, Nathan!"_ Anzu said, slowing down enough to allow Nathan to land with the right amount of velocity to keep running forward without falling over. His Idol tried to dart around the Persona in his way, but Anzu stood his ground and took the full brunt of his weight, the hit causing Lydia to fall over in pain. The collision forced Anzu to disappear and the Idol to fall on the ground. He looked up, helpless as he watched his other self make the touchdown and send the football flying into the air again.

"Lydia! Are you okay?" Allie cried, stopping to help her friend up. Damien watched as the football turned itself into a bright, shining missile once more, curving back down towards the ground and meeting its intended target as he tried to stand up once more. White light engulfed everyone and reset them back to their original positions, except this time the Idol was unable to stand properly, and fell over with all eleven of its merged parts in tow, groaning.

"You've got him now! Finish him off!" F.Z. said, pointing towards the fallen Idol. She looked towards Lydia to give the command, but found that she was panting heavily, with her hands on her knees. She looked up at the fallen Idol and spoke.

"I'll be... I'll be fine. We just need... one more shot. Damien... use Maragi. Allie and I will... use the Fusion Spell."

"If you say so, Lydia. Nathan! You're going to want to get back." The football player ran behind Damien and Ra, wondering what it was Lydia had said. She was standing off to the side looking exhausted, and probably didn't have the energy to shout whatever it was. How exactly was Damien, who was even further away than he was, able to hear what she said?

"Ophelia... Aques." Lydia changed Personas, replacing Anzu with Ophelia in front of the fallen Idol. Medusa took her place next to her, and both of them simultaneously fired off their attacks at the center of the Idol as Ra let loose his fire. The stronger water attack collided with the weaker earth one and overpowered it, releasing a powerful circular wave with bits of rock in it that combined with Maragi completely destroyed the auxiliary parts of the Idol.

" _That one will be... Wave Smash."_ Ophelia said.

Being at the epicenter of the blast also destroyed the center of the Idol, turning him into quartz and then into dust, revealing his previous form as the buff coach laying on the ground, staring up into the blue sky. All the floating humanoid creatures disappeared, as did the football. Nathan saw a strange mirror appear in Damien's hand – where did that come from, and why was his other self laying in a pile of dust?

" **I don't understand..."** His Idol spoke, sitting up in the pile of quartz dust that was beginning to fade away. He looked up at Nathan with pleading green eyes, which was a startling difference from the angry expressions he had exhibited not too long ago.

" **If you're not going to be a football player, what are you going to _do_ to make your mark on the world, me? What else are we even capable of doing?"** He asked. Nathan looked at Damien, who began to remove the football gear from himself.

"Only you can answer that question, man." Damien told him. Nathan noticed that the girls were able to walk onto the field now; a woman with pink robes and porcelain skin briefly appeared behind Lydia making dancing motions in midair before disappearing and causing a fancy mirror to appear in Lydia's hand. In seconds, she had gone from being exhausted to looking mildly tired. She walked up to him and looked towards his other self as she spoke.

"Damien's right. Go and tell your Idol why you're okay with not being him. Don't worry, he's not dangerous anymore." Nathan drew in a breath, and walked forward. He crouched in front of his Idol, suddenly now feeling very sticky from the cooler full of energy drink he had dumped on him earlier.

"If you really are another me... you should know about how easy it is to injure yourself in football. You've seen it, I've seen it – how players' careers are cut short because of a concussion or something like that... that's part of it. Another part is that, well, I remember when I looked up how they treated those kinds of injuries, and how they prevented them from happening in the first place. Man, I was amazed by what they could do. I can't tell you off the top of my head what exactly I want to do with my life, but if it'd be something like that, where I could treat people's injuries or prevent them, that'd be worth it to me." His other self considered those words, and smiled.

" **What, you mean like a doctor?"**

"No, not like a doctor... I mean more like the people who work in ambulances. Paramedics, EMTs, whatever they call them. Like _them._ They make a _huge_ difference in people's lives every day, don't they? Isn't that what you were going on about earlier, about me making a difference? I get that! You know what I want. Now you're not going to go berserk on me again, are you?" His Idol sighed, and stood up. Nathan stood up to face him, and saw that those eyes were indeed his own.

" **No. Now I get what you're talking about. It wasn't really about _football,_ it was about doing something that _meant something_ to people that you really wanted to do. You actually came up with something better! I mean, who's gonna argue that being an EMT or whatever isn't a meaningful job? Nobody! So way to go, other me. You've sold me on it. Let's go back and realize that dream together!"** Nathan stepped back as blue flames consumed his Idol, and was speechless as the flames parted to reveal a well-built shirtless figure with a jaguar's head, forest green shorts, and a crimson cape tied around his neck. On the figure's wrists were feathered bracelets, little yellow beads holding the feathers together. His skin was colored and spotted like a jaguar's, and in his right hand he held a green triangle-shaped staff with an orb of glowing white energy at its top.

" _Do not worry! With my power, we can both strike down our enemies and heal the wounds of our allies! I am Tepeyollotl, and together we shall achieve greatness."_ The figure disappeared and left behind a square mirror with an obsidian border, its edges rounded off so as to not be too sharp. Nathan turned around to the four people that had saved him, utterly confused as to what had just happened.

"That's your Persona, Nathan. That mirror is how you'll be able to call him. Damien and I went through the same thing you just did – we faced our Idols, gave them a better vision for our lives, and then got a Persona and a special mirror just like you." Allie explained. Nathan turned around and took the mirror in his hands, seeing his reflection in it briefly before watching it change to Tepeyollotl's.

" _I am you. You are me. Whenever you need me, just call for me and I'll be there for you."_ Tepeyollotl's voice spoke from within his mind, startling him. He looked back and saw that Lydia, Damien, and Allie all had their own little mirrors, each with their own design.

"I don't... understand. What am I supposed to do with this?" Nathan asked.

"We'll tell you on the way out. We need to get back to the entrance to the valley so we can get back home." Lydia said, and walked by him leading everyone out of the now-opened gates. She and the others explained to him what had gone on in the first few weeks of school, and told him as much as they could about the valley and what was taking place within it. When they reached the entrance to the valley and Damien and Allie had changed back into their previous clothes, F.Z. stretched his arms out and tore open a portal, surprising Nathan once again.

"So... just so I understand you all right... you three, the Quartz Idol Busters, use your Personas to rescue people that get sucked into this place from their Idols and learn more about the valley. F.Z. over there is the only known person to have resisted their Idol and died doing so, and because of that she's got amnesia and has powers over quartz and grass, and is also stuck inside here. And then... you all want me to join you guys?"

"I don't blame you if you don't want to. This crap freaked me the hell out when I first learned about it, and I didn't have anybody to explain it to me like you did. You don't have to risk your life with these yahoos trying to save people or figure out what's really going on here. And by the way, the _four of us_ are the Quartz Idol Busters, you brickhead." F.Z. commented, tossing her piece of quartz away. Nathan looked at her and then towards Lydia, who was apparently the leader of this whole shebang. She and her friends seemed more-or-less normal; they were just everyday teenagers that got pulled into this nonsense and chose to stick with it even though nothing was making them.

"If you guys are the only ones that even have a chance of figuring out what's causing the disappearances in this city, then I can't just pretend that none of this ever happened. I have the same kind of power you guys have now, don't I? That means I can help. I can actually do something seriously meaningful before I'm even out of high school. It sucks that no one will believe us, but at least what y'all have been doing has been working so far. Allie, Damien, Lydia... sure. I'll join you guys. I guess that makes me the newest member of QIB, then." Damien and Allie grinned at each other, while Lydia sighed beside them.

"We should get some kind of thing made for it. Like a badge, or a headband, or a wristband, or _something._ A thing that we can wear in the real world to show off." Damien said.

"I like that! It'll be our own secret thing that only we understand. To everyone else, it's just a random accessory – but for us, it's our way of expressing our solidarity with each other." Allie said, beginning to move towards the portal.

"Uh... sure, whatever. I guess. I guess that portal is our way home?" Nathan gestured towards the moving zebra stripes next to him.

"Yes. Come on, let's go back to school. Hopefully too much time hasn't passed back in the real world."

"Hey, if you're gonna make a QIB accessory, bring me one!" F.Z. said, crossing her arms. Damien and Allie stopped short of the portal.

"Of course. We just have to figure out what we're going to make first, but once we do, we'll let you know." Damien said.

"Mmhm! I'm sure it'll be... um, _nice_ to have with you." Allie remembered what F.Z. had said about all her creations eventually expiring, and knew that having something like a bracelet or a headband would mean a lot to her.

"We'll come back soon, F.Z. Alright?" Lydia said as Damien and Allie went back through the portal. Nathan paused for a moment to watch the ghost girl's response.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Go get back to your football game. I'll be fine." From there, Lydia and Nathan walked through the portal and ended up back in the dance team's practice room. The team had left their phones behind on a table near the wall, and checked them to see that about ten minutes had passed by in the real world while they were gone.

"Pretty good. Whew, I'm beat. Listen, Lydia, Nathan, I know you guys have to stick around, but I think Allie and I will probably leave school in a few minutes." Damien said, leaning against the wall. Allie and Lydia both felt their energy quickly leaving them, the exertion from fighting in the valley now sinking in. Lydia in particular felt it worse than the others, having taken the most damage, and so she sat down on the floor.

"No problem. I think I'm going to rest here for a while before I go back. Nathan... you need to get back to the football field. The whole team and Coach Hudson has been wondering where you've been." Although tired, Nathan perked up at the mention of the football game, and immediately started going towards the door.

"Oh, man! How long we have been away? Damn it, Coach Hudson is going to kill me if he thinks I abandoned the team!" He opened the door and went through to find a bunch of girls' clothes spread out all over the place, along with a set of benches, chairs, and gym bags. Realizing where he was, he immediately turned around and came back out to see a snickering Allie and Lydia laying down on the floor, her head turning to face him.

"I'm sorry, I should've told you that was the changing room. The exit's the other way." Damien put his hands behind his head and gave him a sly smile.

"Don't worry, it's an honest mistake. We won't call you a perv or anything for it. And since you asked, it's only been ten minutes or so since we got here, and the third quarter started a few minutes before that." He told the football player, who shook his head and sighed in embarrassment.

"Okay, yeah, thanks. What am I gonna tell the coach, though? He's not gonna believe the truth, that I disappeared into some quartz-filled valley of Idols and got a Persona." Lydia raised her right arm and pointed at him with it while still laying on the floor.

"You don't have to. Just tell him you got sick and were riding it out in the locker room the whole time. From what I heard on the field, the quarterback hardly even bothered to notice what was really going on with you. You can probably make that work." She put her arm down. Nathan nodded, figuring that was probably the only thing that would make sense.

"Got it. He's already put someone else in to take my spot, anyway. Considering y'all saw all that stuff I said about not wanting to play football anymore, I'll probably end up quitting the team after this. There's no point in continuing when I don't want to and everyone wants me gone anyways. I gotta go, though. It was uh, nice meeting y'all, and I guess-"

"Hold on. Your phone number, what is it? We need to be able to reach you if you want to be a part of our group." Lydia said. Allie came over and handed him her phone, a new contact menu already opened up on it.

"Oh, yeah." He quickly put in his info and gave Allie back her phone.

"If that's all, I really gotta get going. We'll talk later. Bye!" He rushed out the exit door before waiting to hear if there was anything else. Damien came and leaned over Lydia, noticing how her face was red from exhaustion. Allie was busy sending Nathan's info to the other phones.

"I know who's having a good sleep tonight."

"Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up at noon tomorrow."

"Well, as I said earlier, Allie and I are tired too. The game doesn't really matter to either of us anymore, so we're going to go home. We can talk later about what we're going to do with Nathan." Lydia raised a thumbs up towards him.

"Yep. Sounds good. See you two later."

"I texted you Nathan's number! Hope you have a good night's sleep tonight, Lydia. I know I will." Allie called from near the exit doors. Damien joined her, and looked back towards Lydia one more time before they left.

"Mm. Good night, Lydia." The both of them went through the doors, leaving Lydia alone staring up at the fluorescent lights of the practice room.

 _I feel like I could fall asleep right now if I wanted to. I can't do that, though, I should try and get back to the game so I can come back with the rest of the girls. We did pretty good this time, for not having any warning beforehand. It wasn't as difficult as fighting Damien's Idol, for sure. I think that extra training we did on Labor Day really helped us with that. That means... we definitely have to do it again sometime. But that's enough Personas and fighting for now. I just want to go back to living a normal life again for a few days... and to go to sleep, too._

* * *

 **A/N: Double chapter update is double. The lack of updates in the past two weeks compared to the first two has been bothering me, but I'm not on a regular schedule for this fic - it's technically whenever I feel like updating it. Hopefully it won't slip too much farther than weekly, but I make no promises.**

 **I don't plan on writing a failure scenario for this fight, but if enough people request it, I'll write one. The one with Damien's Idol was meant to show you the "Game Over" text that would've appeared if this had been an actual game, like the text you see (and inevitably skip over after the first few times) when you get a Game Over in Persona 3 or 4. I do see the appeal in wanting to know how things could go wrong, though.**


	17. Chapter 16

**September 14, 2015 – Monday, Early Morning – Cloudy**

Lydia had woken up early and decided to turn on the TV in her room, finding that the morning news was on. One of the newscasters, a man in his forties wearing a suit and tie, was in the middle of speaking about some burglary that had taken place in the city.

"...and the Quartz Police Department has taken the suspect into custody. Next up, we have some good news regarding the string of unexplained disappearances that have taken place in the last several months. We have been notified that the unusual condition doctors are calling Narcissus Syndrome has been confirmed cured in two individuals known to have been afflicted with it." The program then cut to a young-looking doctor standing in what appeared to be his office. He was listed as one Dr. Russell Clementine, whose caption described him as a specialist in mental disorders.

"After doing a considerable amount of tests, I can affirm that the symptoms associated with Narcissus Syndrome, aside from the unusual marking that has appeared on their shoulders, have completely disappeared in two of the affected individuals. It is unclear to us how this has happened; their cases were several weeks apart and other people between them have yet to show any signs of improvement. The only thing the cured individuals have in common is that they are both teenagers, which may have something to do with their recovery. We are doing everything we can to study this condition and figure out a treatment." The doctor then explained what was currently believed to be possible causes for Narcissus Syndrome, including severe personal stress, trauma from whatever was causing the disappearances, and lack of nourishment since people would often be gone for several days before being found.

Lydia wondered the same thing the doctors had: what was causing the condition to just suddenly disappear? Narcissus Syndrome was the result of people giving in to their Idols, so did that mean... somehow figuring out a way to reject the Idol later on fixed it? QIB's job was to get to people _before_ their Idols could merge with them, and going against an Idol always meant a fight. Maybe those were only the rules in the valley, though – she and the others knew pretty much nothing about how Idols manifested in the real world.

She turned off the TV after watching the rest of the coverage and began to get ready for school. She didn't know if Damien, Allie, or Nathan had seen what she had, and so decided to start a group text between them all.

"Hey everyone, it's Lydia. Just saw a news report about two teenagers being cured of Narcissus Syndrome all of a sudden. We can also use this group text to talk about whatever we think the others should hear about." She went downstairs and began to eat some cereal, with Gerald deciding to eat a few slices of buttered toast. Her phone vibrated on the table, with a response from Nathan.

"k"

"Really?" Lydia looked at the single-letter response and sighed.

"What?" Gerald asked, taking a bite out of one of his slices of toast.

"I started this group text with some of my friends and there's this new guy. His response to me setting it up was a single letter 'k'." Her younger brother shrugged, swallowing the toast.

"So? What's wrong with that? That's how I text Don and Ron." Lydia stirred the milk in her cereal and gave Gerald an annoyed look.

"What?" He asked.

"It's just... I don't know, is it that much harder to type out the other three letters in 'okay'? You don't even need that much – one more letter for 'ok' would work, too. It's just that single letter is such a... lazy response." Gerald shrugged, eating some more of his toast.

"Why do you care so much? Are you going to say it's ruining my English grades, or whatever? Because FYI, I'm doing just fine in English. I can write _okay_ enough." The subject of grades reminded Lydia that the first round of tests was coming up. Mr. Marshall's test was coming up before anyone else's, on this coming Friday, the 18th. Then there were several other tests in the next two weeks following that, with the most being on the last week of the month.

"Speaking of grades, when's your first test?" She asked. Gerald thought for a moment and responded with,

"Uh, I think next week? I hear the teachers at this school like to put their tests at the end of each month. Like, a bunch of them. That's gonna suck. I am _not_ looking forward to algebra. That's _really_ gonna suck."

"If it's giving you that much trouble, maybe I could help you out with it. I did pretty well in algebra, remember?" Gerald ripped a piece of the toast off with his teeth.

"Yeah, I guess. If you have time for it... you'd probably do a better job than my teacher of explaining it to me." The two siblings finished their breakfast and went off to school. Gerald quickly disappeared into the school, as was his tradition by now, which left Lydia to walk up to the entrance she normally used at a steady pace. Waiting for her at the entrance was Nathan, who she hadn't yet seen outside of his football uniform until now. He was wearing a solid red t-shirt with blue shorts and black tennis shoes, looking less imposing now that he was out of the bulky uniform, although he still towered over her.

"Hey, Lydia."

"I haven't seen you here before. What's up?" The two of them began walking down the hallway.

"I uh, just wanted to talk. Nothing big, you already told me enough about the Persona stuff that I think I understand it well enough now. I saw you pull up in the parking lot and came over to meet you here. Are you doing alright today?"

"Mmhm. I'm alright. My first class is right over there. It's history with Mr. Marshall. We have a test this Friday, so... I'll probably be studying for that later on tonight." Nathan nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, I remember him. Uh, I'm a senior, so I had him last year. The guy's as strict as Coach Hudson when it comes to grading. His tests are _hard._ Hey, though, if you have Marshall's class, that means you're probably a junior, right? I never bothered to ask that before."

"Yes, that's right. Damien and Allie are also juniors too. I'm not surprised his tests are difficult. He's a pretty challenging teacher, but it rarely ever feels unfair to me. I think I'll do okay on the test." Lydia stopped as the word 'okay' left her lips and reached her own ears again. She had just reminded herself that this guy walking next to her had sent her the 'k' text, which was still bothering her.

"Cool. Yeah, he's still in the same classroom as before. Guess that means I should get going. Uh, I guess I'll see you later-"

"Wait, Nathan. There's something I have to tell you." Lydia reached into her pants pocket and pulled out her phone. She brought up the group text and showed it to him.

"What is it? Oh, the group text? Yeah, looks like you got my response." She pointed to the 'k' on the screen.

"I noticed. Listen, in the future, do you think you could... maybe use more than one letter in your responses? Even two-letter 'ok' would've been fine, it's just that one-letter responses really, really bother me." Nathan gave her a confused look before shrugging.

"Uh, sure. That's fine, I guess. I gotta go to class, so I'll see you later." He waved and then walked off down the hallway, not really understanding Lydia's frustration with the text. She walked towards Mr. Marshall's classroom and saw the teacher himself almost at the door. He noticed her and opened the door for her.

"Go ahead, Lydia." She walked through the doorway, noticing the smile on his face. He seemed to be in a fairly good mood today; maybe that meant he would offer some sort of review for the upcoming test.

 **Monday, Lunchtime – Cloudy**

As it turned out, Mr. Marshall had opted to do the review tomorrow, having finished up the material for the first exam today. Wednesday and Thursday would start the new unit, covering new material that would be on the second exam.

Lydia found that Nathan was looking around the cafeteria for someone, and then began approaching her group once he had spotted them. He sat down next to Damien such that there were two people on each side of the table.

"Hey, Nathan. Glad to see you could join us. What's going on, man?" Damien greeted him, offering him a fist bump. Nathan chuckled and bumped his fist against Damien's.

"Oh, not much. How about you?"

"Got tests coming up. That means my library work's about to get a whole lot more busy in the upcoming days." The meal of the day was pizza, the frozen kind that had an average taste at best. Nathan took a huge bite out of it and looked up towards the ceiling, evaluating the taste of the pizza carefully before swallowing it. Lydia took a small bite out of it and found it was mediocre, not very good but not tasting of cardboard, either.

"It's alright. Pizza's alright. You work at the library? Gotta be honest with you, I can't remember the last time I went to the school library. I'm not exactly Mr. Honor Roll, but I get by alright, I guess." Damien shrugged, eating some of his pizza.

"Sure, everyone's got their own way. The library's not big enough to hold everybody, anyway. It's mostly the same groups of people that show up whenever there isn't a book fair going on. Sometimes there's a freshman English class that shows up so the teachers can show them how to do research online – I'm pretty sure Gerald's been in one of those already, except I haven't seen him myself." He looked at Lydia as he said this, who was drinking her soda. She put the soda down and decided to change the subject of the conversation.

"So, now that we're all here... I'm thinking, that since we have a test on Friday, we could go to the valley on Saturday. Assuming no one else disappears into it, we'll go and clear out the Shadows from Damien's skyscraper. What do you think?"

"That sounds good." Allie said. She had taken several bites out of her pizza slice already, which being a big formerly-frozen slice meant that she was getting close to halfway through it.

"I'd like to see what you guys saw when you rescued me." Damien said.

"Uh, that's fine. I'm not doing anything Saturday. The skyscraper, huh... that was where _your_ Idol was, right Damien?"

"Yeah. Lydia, Allie, and F.Z. made their way through it to come rescue me. Apparently they fought some kind of possessed microwave Shadow that was holding the elevator card key before they got to the top." Nathan tried to picture an evil microwave attacking the girls and came up with some flying microwave with teeth and bat wings flying around trying to munch on their heads.

"Huh. Yeah, there's my football stadium, your skyscraper, and Allie's... uh, nightclub? What about Lydia? She doesn't have a thing made out of quartz where her Idol was?"

"When Philemon gave me the power of the Beholder, it must have allowed me to bypass having to deal with my Idol. For me, my Persona emerged when I was first attacked by Shadows. Now that I remember it, I should've been terrified at what was going on. I mean, I'd just been thrown into a weird otherworldly place with no idea what was happening and then these black blobby monsters just show up out of nowhere to try and kill me. But it wasn't like that. I just... knew what needed to be done, and I did it." Nathan looked around to see if anybody else had been listening to what Lydia was saying. QIB's spot was always at the edge of the table, and the closest people were two chairs away and engrossed in their own conversation. He wondered about the kind of attention talking about all this crazy stuff would attract; the obsidian-lined mirror he'd obtained last Friday was still hidden at the bottom of his backpack.

"That's something else... here I was thinking that maybe this was all some kind of dream, but that mirror is still there and here you are talking about this stuff at lunch right after talking about school." Nathan made eye contact with Lydia, his green eyes looking into her brown ones and finding that there was an intelligent sincerity in them. He took in the image of her before him: she was somewhere between plain and pretty, with light makeup and short brown hair that ended above her shoulders. She was wearing a white blouse, one that didn't have any sleeves and had some wavy-looking frills going down the middle. It was all pretty normal-looking to him.

"It's just, I never thought I'd get involved with anything like this. Not in my wildest dreams." The other three were silent for a moment before Allie decided to speak up.

"I don't think any of us really expected something like this to happen to us. Lydia might have been given a heads up compared to us, but I don't think she had any idea moving to Quartz would involve anything like this." Damien took a big gulp from his drink, putting the mostly-finished beverage down before speaking.

"The fact is, this is real. We all have the power of Persona now and it's our responsibility to use it the best way we know how. And until we figure out something new about that place, we stick to what we know we can do, and that's saving people and killing Shadows. Honestly, though, I really wish F.Z. wasn't stuck in there. She'd be the first to know if anyone ended up on the other side. I mean, we've been lucky so far that all the people that have disappeared there have been people we know. Who's to say that's going to continue? If it's some random dude working halfway across town, we're probably not going to know about it until it's too late." He put his hands behind his head and the other group members considered what he said. Lydia in particular sighed, looking down at her half-eaten pizza.

 _He's right. The only reason Nathan is even sitting with us right now is because I was really thirsty and picked that exact moment to go get some water. If I'd been a minute too soon or too late, I would never even have heard he was missing. What are we going to do about that?_

"Do you think maybe we should start checking every day? After all of our extracurricular stuff is done, I mean?" Lydia asked. Nathan perked up at the mention of "extracurricular" and said,

"That reminds me! Uh, I was actually going to... well, I told my parents about quitting the football team and... they were pretty upset about it. Long story short, the only way they'll let me quit the team is if I find something _else_ to do in its place. So I thought about it over the weekend – you know the health club? It's pretty new, it only cropped up last year, but I thought it'd be the perfect thing to replace football. So uh, that's what I told them I'd do instead, and they were... well, they weren't exactly happy, but it satisfied them." Lydia had seen a few flyers around school advertising the health club. It was the kind of thing people who wanted to be involved in the medical field in some capacity joined up with, and apparently it was also the student organization responsible for helping out with the annual school blood drive. Damien nodded in approval and spoke again.

"Looks like you managed to get what you want, then. Lydia, I have no problem with checking the valley out every day. If it's only to see whether or not someone's there, we don't need everybody going at once. Thing is, what if someone's in there and one of us is tied up with something? What if we're all busy with something we can't exactly drop what we're doing without getting a bunch of questions thrown at us?" Lydia thought about it while taking another bite of her pizza. It was certainly possible that one or more people would be busy if it turned out someone was on the other side. The thing was, was that the Shadows seemed to have gotten stronger every time QIB saved someone, and while three people could probably get by, any less than that might not be enough.

She sighed, frustration beginning to settle in at their limitations. Damien was right – without a way for F.Z. to contact them in the real world, they were stuck shooting in the dark and hoping everyone was available to drop what they were doing at a moment's notice to go save somebody. That wasn't practical whatsoever, and being at school the whole day also meant that if the victim disappeared during the day, they'd have no way of helping them anyway. She placed her palm on her forehead and took a long drink of her soda.

"I don't know, Damien. We can't keep our eyes on it all day; each of us have our own lives to deal with first. If you want to check in with F.Z. to see if anything's happened, go right ahead. Use the group text to tell us if something has. Otherwise, we're not going in there until Saturday. Is that okay with everyone?" The rest of the group agreed, and finished their lunch while talking about other things.

 **Monday, After School – Rainy**

Dance practice for the day had ended with Coach Carter reminding everyone that if their grades weren't up to snuff, that they'd be suspended from the squad until they were. As was beginning to become standard, Carla and Lydia were the last two girls left in the changing room while Dawn continued her solo practice one room over.

"You were pretty good out there last Friday. I saw the video footage of us and you got everything down pat." The redhead leaned against the wall, wearing an orange sundress and red sandals.

"Thanks. I'm sure it's only going to get harder from here, though."

"Of course it is. You'd have to be stupid to think otherwise. But you're not stupid, Lydia. You know what you're doing. So, now that I've gotten to know you a little bit, what do you say we hang out together sometime? We could go to the mall, get our nails done, talk about whatever... sound good to you?" Lydia wondered if this was what they called an invitation to be in with the in crowd. It sounded harmless enough, but something about Carla's demeanor told her that there was likely some ulterior motive behind it that she probably wouldn't like. Refusing the invitation, though, might cause its own set of problems.

"I wouldn't mind it. It's just that since tests are coming up, it might be better to wait until the end of the week." Carla smiled, closing her eyes for a second.

"Don't want the coach breathing down your neck, huh? Well, it's not like I was going to go _today._ Maybe tomorrow, Wednesday? We do have a game on Friday we have to go to, so that's out. I'm always busy on the weekends, by the way. Let me know by tomorrow whether or not you're in. I've gotta get going." She stood up straight, picked up her purse, and left the room.

"What are you up to? Trying to groom Lydia into one of your servants?" Lydia heard Dawn's voice from the other room. Carla stopped to glare at the girl that had been in a thorn in her side for years, who had stopped her frivolous dance practice to talk to her. Lydia decided to stay inside the changing room and watch the interaction between the two rivals through an opened crack in the doors.

"You know she can hear you, right? When you speak as loud as a squealing pig?"

"I _want her_ to hear me! You don't give a shit about Lydia. She's the new girl that doesn't really know anyone and will listen to anything you tell her! I know what you're up to because you did it before. You did it with Marcia and Jackie, and now you're doing it with her. Don't act like this is any different." Carla scoffed, and turned to leave the room.

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about. I don't have to listen to your bitching; I'm leaving. Lydia can think whatever she wants to, but she's not stupid. She knows what's really going on. Goodbye." She left the room, leaving Dawn alone in the practice room. The brunette with green eyes turned to see the door shift open as Lydia emerged from the changing room, and walked up to her with an annoyed look on her face.

"I don't know where you came from, but just in case you _don't_ know, you shouldn't trust everything someone tells you. If Carla's offering a place in her little clique to you, turn her down. We already have plenty of stuck-up girls in this school, we don't need another one." Lydia did not find Dawn's attitude very convincing. Yes, she had suspicions about Carla's intentions, but Dawn literally had just told her not to trust everything she heard.

 _You mean like yourself? You're not any better than she is! At least Carla **has** friends. Do you even have any? You spend a lot of time here alone dancing for nobody!_

That was too mean for her to say, though. Not at this point, anyway; one of these days Dawn's whining eventually _would_ get her to say something like that to her face.

"Mind your own business, Dawn. I'll see you tomorrow." She left the practice room, and went down the hall towards the exit before hearing someone approach behind her. She looked back and saw a wet Nathan, his red shirt darkened from the water.

"Hey, Lydia! It's uh, raining outside. Hope you brought an umbrella." He walked beside her as she walked towards the exit of the building. She heard the rain coming down at a steady pace outside as she approached the doors, and pulled out her compact umbrella from her purse.

"Yeah. Did you tell Coach Hudson you were quitting the team?" She decided to stick around a little bit longer to talk to him.

"Uh huh. I told him pretty much what I told you guys and my parents, and while he was disappointed, he said they'd find a way to manage without me. Now I gotta go and see the registrar about changing my records, or whatever. I didn't think it was going to rain today, so... that's why I'm wet." There wasn't really anyone else nearby, Lydia noticed. Most of the people had gone home for the day, and since it was raining, likely people didn't want to spend any more time here than they had to.

"That's why you should keep an umbrella in your backpack. I hope you don't catch a cold." Nathan shook his head, adjusting his backpack.

"Nah, I'll be fine. Would've hardly been the first time I'd been out in the rain like this. Heading home?"

"Mmhm. I'll probably do some studying tonight and then help my little brother with his algebra studies. It's his hardest subject and I did pretty well in algebra, plus he doesn't really like the teacher." Nathan nodded in understanding, and then decided to open the doors and step outside. There was a fixture covering the first few yards in front of the door, which kept him and Lydia dry as they both stood at the top of the steps. Nathan decided to sit down on one of the dry parts of the steps, which prompted Lydia to do the same.

"Little brother, huh? That's cool. I've got two older brothers myself. One's about to graduate from college and the other's in the middle of his first year of it. I know how it's been to be in your brother's position." The two of them watched the rainfall silently for a moment before Nathan continued.

"Yeah, they were always kinda the smart ones in the family. Uh, my oldest brother James is about to graduate with a degree in computer engineering. He knows computers inside and out. Family considers him their own tech support guy. My other brother Alfred is going for business. Says he wants to work in marketing, or something. And as for me, well... I used to not really know what I wanted to do, until last week happened. The more I think about it, the more grateful I become for having it happen. It really cleared some stuff up for me. And well, from what I know, it was you that pretty much got that ball rolling. So, uh... I just wanted to thank you. Y'know, for saving me." He had turned to look at her halfway through his little speech, and was looking her right in the eyes as he thanked her. Lydia put her hands together and looked out towards the parking lot, where the rain was steadily falling on the few cars that were still parked there. From here, she could even see her car parked towards the edge of the lot, as it typically was.

"You're very welcome, Nathan. We... well, I, I guess, kind of just got lucky I was there when I was. Now that I've gotten involved in this 'saving other people' business, it's been getting more and more complicated. I'm glad I have you and the others to help me with it. I just..." She looked down at her folded hands. She felt the frustration from lunch well up inside of her, the thoughts about how they were inevitably going to fail their objective sooner or later with the current limitations they had swirling about in her mind.

"...I wish we could do more. Right now, I don't see anything that's actually helping us understand that place any better. Why is it there? Why are people being drawn into it? Is there even any way we can stop it? And then... I just know we're going to miss somebody. Someone's going to slip through the cracks because we can't _be there_ every minute of the day." Nathan heard her growing more and more distraught as she spoke, and put a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her. Lydia was surprised at his touch and looked up at him. He looked down at the concrete, trying to condense his thoughts, looked back at her, and then opened his mouth to talk.

"I can't say I know as much about all this stuff as you do... but I can tell you really, really care about it. And I want to tell you... don't worry so much about what we _can't_ do. Things might change in a good way, y'know? Just because we can't see them yet doesn't mean they're not coming to us. That's another thing that last week taught me." Lydia felt a warmth in her heart begin to rise in place of her frustration, and heard the familiar sound of shattering glass. Time paused and another card appeared in front of Nathan's face: this one had a knight riding some kind of carriage being pulled along by what looked like two Sphinxes, with the roman numeral for seven at the bottom.

 **Thou art I... and I am thou...**

 **Thou hast established a new bond...**

 **In thee, the Beholder's sight grows ever clearer...**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Chariot Arcana...**

 _The Chariot. The Arcana that represents drive, self-confidence, and power. He sure does seem to give a lot into whatever he chooses to pursue, that's for sure. He doesn't overthink his decisions, he just goes with what he knows is right without hesitation. That's cool..._

The rain resumed its falling and the card disappeared from view. Lydia sighed, and looked out at the school grounds being covered with water. She smiled, and then decided to stand up and walk down the rest of the steps.

"Yeah. You're right. We've only just gotten started. We're not perfect, but we'll do our best. Nathan, thanks for talking to me. Make sure you get home safely and try not to get sick. We'll need your help on the other side." Nathan stood up and jumped off of the steps.

"Gotcha. Whatever I can do to help, I'll do it."

* * *

 **A/N: Just in case you were wondering, these are the Arcana currently represented by Social Links at this point in the story:**

 **Fool - Quartz Idol Busters  
Magician - Gerald White  
Empress - Carla Simmons  
Chariot - Nathan Young  
Hermit - Allie de Luna  
Fortune - Damien Hall  
Moon - F.Z.**

 **Eventually you'll see every single one represented, though that'll certainly take some time.**


	18. Chapter 17

**September 15, 2015 – Tuesday, Early Morning – Rainy**

The rain from yesterday had started back up this morning, ensuring that the humidity levels would remain high the rest of the week. Having lived in a place that hardly ever saw rain compared to east Texas, Lydia was starting to figure out how temperatures below ninety degrees Fahrenheit could be so sweltering. Gerald had complained about the weather the whole way to school, and took off running underneath his umbrella to get out of the rain quicker.

 _It really sucks, but we'll just have to get used to it. We **will** get used to it... hopefully autumn comes around early this year so the temperature will drop enough to make it tolerable._

 **Tuesday, After School – Rainy**

Dance practice was not affected in the slightest by the rain, other than Coach Carter telling people to make sure the floor wasn't wet so that no one would slip and fall during practice. Carla seemed to be in a bad mood today, as she felt the need to criticize the mistakes some of the squad members were making in the changing room. She let out a sigh as all the other girls except Lydia and Dawn had left to go home.

"You're not going to do your little solo thing today, Dawn?" Carla asked, glaring at the green-eyed brunette. Dawn shook her head and crossed her arms, returning Carla's glare with a glare of her own.

"No. I don't feel like it today. The rain makes me want to go to sleep."

"Go home, then. Practice is over." Dawn shrugged, deciding to walk over to where Lydia was standing.

"What's the rush? I don't have anything important calling me right now. Aren't you usually talking to Lydia right now? If you're really not doing anything suspicious, there's nothing you can tell her that you can't tell me too." Lydia drew in a breath, seeing where this situation was going to go and decided she wasn't going to have any of it. She stepped between the two girls and turned to Dawn first.

"I'm starting to get very tired of you and your ulterior motives, Dawn. You never bothered to stay behind and talk with us before; why are you so interested in it now? I'd like to think it's because you really want to get to know us, but you and Carla have apparently been feuding with each other for years now and the only things you've ever said to me have been disparaging remarks about _her!_ " Dawn closed her eyes and shook with anger while Carla smiled at her from behind Lydia. Dawn opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Carla.

"She was always jealous of me, Lydia. Jealous that I moved up the rankings so fast on the squad. Jealous that even though we're both seniors, I'm pretty and popular while she's still a plain nobody. She's been nothing but a loser this whole time. I tried to be friends with her, back when we were still freshmen, but she wouldn't have any of it. She always insisted on trying to do everything by herself, and look where it's gotten her – absolutely fucking nowhere." Dawn responded by punching a locker, before turning towards Carla with an anguished expression on her face and tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"Damn it! Where do you... where do you get off _saying_ shit like that? What the hell do you know, huh? You think I don't have any friends, you little bitch? Well, I do! I have _plenty_ of friends outside this little bitchfest of a dance squad! Lydia! Do you get it now? _This_ is the Carla I've had to put up with for _four years..._ and she's _never_ been nice to me. Not once!" Lydia watched in silence as Dawn began wiping the tears from her face, and then watched Carla's reaction. The redhead twitched her nose briefly, her eyes briefly meeting Lydia's before looking at Dawn's.

She seemed almost bored with the crying brunette, as if it had happened multiple times before.

"You know, if you had never messed with me in the first place, I wouldn't give two shits about you. You'd just be another squad member to me, rather than the sobbing mess you are right now. Go clean yourself up – you look horrible when your makeup runs like that. Lydia, let's get out of here. Let her have her stupid little pity party by herself." Lydia was at a loss as to what to do as Dawn turned around and disappeared behind the other set of lockers. Carla had definitely crossed a line with what she had just said.

"Come on. She's done this crap before – she'll be fine. Hey, were you okay to go to the mall later today? I know it's raining outside, but that shouldn't bother us too much."

 _Can I really just go with her after what she said? Dawn might deserve it more than the average person, but that was still too much. Ugh, this is what I was afraid of when I joined this team. I didn't want to get involved with drama, and now here I am in the middle of it. And **now** , whatever I do is going to be seen by the both of them as taking sides._

"Lydia, hello? Are you coming?" Lydia sighed, briefly looking back towards where Dawn had gone. For a moment it occurred to her that the stress level she was in would make her a prime target for being drawn into the valley – there were no mirrors back there, but there were plenty of them on the way out through the practice room. If she left with Carla and Dawn disappeared...

"Uh, not today. I can't. Um, I've got a lot of studying to do, I have this art project that's due pretty soon, and my brother still needs help with his algebra homework, so..." Carla had read Lydia's expressions of nervousness and worry and figured she wasn't used to hearing those kinds of things. She guessed that her old school probably didn't have anyone like Dawn, and considering she'd never even heard of Crystal Rapids, it was probably a small town where everyone more or less got along with each other. Being a product of a place like that _did_ tend to produce naïve people...

"All tied up, huh? Well, I guess it can't be helped. Maybe we'll hang out some other time, then. See you tomorrow." Carla left the changing room. Lydia sighed, feeling that she had to go back there and at least make sure Dawn left without staring into any large mirrors. She gathered up her things and waited by the doors until Dawn appeared from the back, having cleaned herself up. She stopped where she was upon seeing Lydia still there, and glared at her.

"What do you want? Are you going to make fun of me, too?" Lydia shook her head and opened the doors for Dawn, who sighed and walked through them. Lydia immediately went up to her and drew her attention by talking to her.

"No. You see... what Carla said was way out of line. I can't claim to know what really went on between you two, and honestly, I don't want to know. I just wanted to make sure you were okay." The green-eyed brunette crossed her arms and looked away from Lydia towards the doors to the practice room.

"Why do you care? I'm pretty sure _Carla_ wouldn't be happy to learn that you went to comfort her enemy." The two girls left the practice room, and Dawn went the other way from where Lydia was meant to go. Despite this, she followed her.

"I don't... I don't really _care_ what she thinks about this. She doesn't have that kind of power over me. You shouldn't let her have it over you, either. You've been fighting with her for years and nothing good has come out of it, so why do you keep on bothering with her?" Dawn rolled her eyes and kept on walking down the hallway, refusing to look at Lydia.

"You know how you told me to mind my own business, Lydia? Why don't you _take your own advice_? If there's one thing she and I have in common, it's that we both thought you wouldn't be the type to do this kinda intervention crap. You're not helping. You're just being annoying, so leave me alone." Lydia stood still and watched as Dawn walked away from her. If it wasn't clear before, it certainly was now: there was going to be very little she could do to get through to Dawn about her ridiculous feud with Carla. Their drama would likely continue, with Lydia's only recourse being to try to talk to Carla about her side of the issue now.

 _I won't just let this go, you two. Idols aren't the only things I can save people from, and if I can handle those, I can certainly handle your stupid, needless conflict._

 **September 16, 2015 – Wednesday, Early Morning – Sunny**

Damien had yet to find anything happening on the other side, as his update via the group text indicated. F.Z. had apparently offered her input as to the design of the QIB logo-accessory – something about a pin with the letters on it, something that would stand out from the green and white she typically had to wear. Lydia wondered just how much of a ghost F.Z. really was; she was able to wear the very tangible grass and quartz that the valley had an endless supply of, and despite having a translucent body was as tangible as anyone else. It would then stand to reason that F.Z. might also be able to wear clothes brought to her from the real world.

 _Then again, how would that work with her ability to turn into wind? The clothes she normally wears apparently aren't affected, and if she's asking about an accessory from this side, maybe it doesn't matter what she's wearing... well, we can ask her later, I guess._

Now that the rain had finally passed, the sun was primed to make the humidity it had left behind even worse than before. Gerald complained about it on the way to school, at least until Betsy became the topic of his conversation with Lydia.

"So it looks like Betsy's first test is this Friday. It's supposed to be biology, which is sort of between easy and hard as far as sophomore classes go. At least, that's what she said." Gerald stopped to snicker at what he had just said, which made Lydia shake her head and suppress a smile of her own. He _would_ stop to laugh at something like that, but then again, so would she... sort of.

"But yeah, she doesn't seem to be too bothered about it. I asked her if there _were_ any tests she was really worried about, and she just kinda shrugged and said she'd deal with whatever she got when it came to her. I told her about how algebra was going to be the killer for me, at least until you started helping me out. She then told me math was probably her least favorite subject, and that it was the one she'd done the worst in last year. We had different teachers, though, so... heck if I know how hard this test is really going to be. She said that she hoped I'd do well on all my tests, and I told her the same. I then told her about how basketball was going for me – we don't have any games for a couple of months since basketball season hasn't really started yet, but I was fitting in pretty well on the freshman team. Since we have another home football game this week, I asked her if she was going. She said no, and then reminded me that she wasn't really into sports and probably wouldn't be going to any of the games at all this year." Lydia parked her car. The siblings got out and Gerald wrapped up what he was talking about.

"I then asked her if she was going to go to the homecoming dance. It's not anytime soon, I know, but that kinda surprised her. She was like, 'Um, I don't know yet. It's still a long time from now,' and then she changed the subject on me. I don't know what was up with that. Well, I gotta get going. See you later!" He then made for the school buildings, with Lydia moving quickly towards the comfort of the air conditioned indoors. Even wearing the dress she'd bought to go save Damien in didn't keep the humidity from getting to her even before eight in the morning.

As she walked through the doors, she caught sight of a couple of people she didn't normally see here in the morning. A short Hispanic boy, probably a freshman, was leaning against the wall and checking his phone impatiently. His backpack was on the floor, half open with a couple of unused paintbrushes sticking out of it. Standing near him was the blonde girl Lydia remembered as Victoria, wearing what was pretty much the exact same outfit she'd seen her in last week with different colors – black for the polo shirt and white for the long skirt. She seemed to be listening to something, as indicative by the wires going into her head where her hair was covering her ears.

She noticed Lydia and took out the earbuds, pausing whatever song she'd been listening to. She waved to get her attention and then walked over to her anyway, with a smile on her face and that look of bright sincerity in her eyes. She wasn't flanked by her pushy friends, and she didn't have a stack of flyers this time around, so what did she want to talk to Lydia for?

"Good morning, Lydia! How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. It's gotten _really_ humid outside due to the rain we've had the past couple of days. I'm not used to it at all – it's like I'm sweating from the moment I step outside." Victoria nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I know. Every time it rains around here, it gets really stifling afterwards. Well, at least summer's almost over, huh? Maybe we'll get to see a cold front roll in pretty soon. That'd definitely make it better, right?"

"Definitely. Where are your friends? I guess you all... finished passing out all your flyers?" Victoria seemed to balk at the mention of her friends. She pursed her lips for a moment and looked at the ground before answering.

"Um, yes. We did. It's in a week. I know what you must be thinking – that I came here to try and talk you into going or to preach to you, or something. That's really not it. I actually... well, I sort of slipped away from Bethany and Joyce today. I just wanted to have a _normal conversation_ with someone for once. I hope I'm not wasting your time." That was amusing, thought Lydia. Victoria really must not have been gung-ho about it like her friends were. She'd suspected that she wasn't like them when she let her go after Bethany and Joyce had tried to put a Bible in her hands without her asking, but if she went to the trouble to "slip away" from them and then wait for her near where they had last met, then perhaps there was something more than just courtesy driving her actions.

"No, not at all. Not this time. Are they really that overbearing? You can't have 'normal conversations' with them?" Victoria was silent for a moment as she thought of a response. In the background, a tall brunette with hoop earrings, a big necklace with black marble-like stones on it, and a colorful outfit that seemed to broadcast on loudspeaker "I like designer clothes and expensive heels" walked by and met the short freshman. He seemed relieved to see her, putting his phone away in his jeans pocket.

"I was wondering when you'd get here..." He said.

"You waited for me all the way over here? Aw, isn't that sweet..." The girl answered. Lydia lost track of their conversation as Victoria answered the question she was asked.

"Well, it's not that I can't _have_ normal conversations with them, it's just..." The blonde leaned in slightly as she spoke her next words.

"...I don't like that everything seems to be about the faith. I feel _smothered_ by it. I figure someone like you who's not religious wouldn't feel the need to be judgmental about that. That's... that's really why I came here." So that explained her actions last week, thought Lydia. Everything made sense now. Did she think that hanging out with a non-Christian made her some kind of rebel? Apparently so, if she had to ditch her friends and act like this was some kind of clandestine meeting.

"I see. Well, you're right about the non-judgmental part. I don't have anything against religion myself, I just don't like being preached to without asking. If you need someone to talk to that won't try to make everything _about_ religion, I don't mind being that someone." The couple in the back was still talking about something – the girl was noticeably taller than the guy, especially with the heels she was wearing. The guy didn't seem too pleased with the conversation, but Lydia only heard bits and pieces of what they were saying. Victoria's eyes lit up with relief, and she put her hands together in joy.

"Really? Thank you! Here, we should exchange phone numbers. I don't have any accounts on social media, so this is probably the only way we'll be able to contact each other for now." The two girls gave each other their phones and entered their information into them. When Lydia got hers back, she saw Victoria's name written as "Tori Parker".

"Last time I didn't really get to properly introduce myself, so... hi, my name is Victoria. But please, call me Tori." She extended her hand out for a handshake, which Lydia reciprocated. At that moment, Lydia heard glass shatter in her mind and watched yet another new tarot card appear before her: one with a balance on a background split between red and white, with the Roman numeral for eight at the bottom.

 **Thou art I... and I am thou...**

 **Thou hast established a new bond...**

 **In thee, the Beholder's sight grows ever clearer...**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Justice Arcana...**

 _Justice, which represents fairness and objectivity. That sounds like it would fit someone who's questioning the behaviors associated with their religion without using it as an excuse to be a rebel. This could be very interesting..._

"It's nice to meet you, Tori. Say, which lunch period do you have? My friends and I have the second lunch shift, so maybe you can sit with us today."

"Oh, darn it. I have first lunch. Well, I'm sort of busy after school today – I have church later on this afternoon. I'll be able to text you after that." Lydia wondered why she was going to church on a Wednesday – wasn't church day supposed to be Sunday? Tori checked the time on her phone and looked down the hallway. The couple that had been talking a moment ago had decided to carry on their conversation while walking deeper into the school.

"I have to go. I look forward to talking to you, goodbye!" She quickly walked away and left Lydia to go to her history class.


	19. Chapter 18

**September 18, 2015 – Friday, Early Morning – Sunny**

Lydia had anticipated this day. There was another home football game tonight, and today marked the beginning of the first round of exams, spearheaded by Mr. Marshall's American history test. It was good fortune to have the hardest one come up first, since that meant she wouldn't be stuck worrying about it for the next week and a half. Gerald's algebra test wasn't until Wednesday of next week, and for the most part he seemed to have gotten a better grasp of the concepts he needed to know for it.

"Hey, good luck on your history test today. You go show Mr. Marshall that his tests aren't that tough." Gerald said to her as they parted ways.

"Thanks. I'm ready for it." She walked to the classroom and found that the people that were usually there early were busy going over their notes and books last-minute while Mr. Marshall sat at his desk, watching them from between two stacks of papers with what appeared to be an eager look on his face. Lydia took her seat beside Damien, who was discussing the particulars of the last chapter to be on today's exam with Allie.

"Lydia. Hey, are you ready for this?" He said, the both of them stopping their discussion for a moment to acknowledge her. She had felt pretty good about her level of preparedness for this test before, but now that she had walked into the room and seen everyone primed for it, she was beginning to think pulling out her notes wouldn't hurt.

"About as ready as I'll ever be. I put several hours into making sure I got everything he went over in the review. I don't know how well I'm going to do on the essay. I'm not all that good with coming up with those on the fly." Allie pulled out a piece of paper from her notebook and looked down to where the prospective list of essay topics were.

"Well, he said that the topics he went over specifically _wouldn't_ be on the test word-for-word, so... I guess we'll just have to wait and see what he really came up with for a prompt. It's probably some mixture of these, I bet." She handed Lydia the piece of paper, a handout that Mr. Marshall had passed out to everyone on the review day. Lydia refreshed her memory with knowledge of the topics listed on the page, and then handed it back to Allie.

"That essay is no joke – a third of our grade is going to come from that thing. I didn't think this was going to be like English class." Damien commented. The three of them spent their last few minutes before class started going over anything they might have missed, before every student was inside and Mr. Marshall closed the door.

"Good morning, everyone! I'm glad to see you all are working so hard in preparation for this exam. I have faith that I will see your best work from each and every one of you." He took one of the stacks of paper and lifted a section out of it, a colored sticky note denoting which class periods were which.

"Put your things away. The only things I want to see on your desks are pens or pencils and erasers. If you haven't turned your phone off or silenced it, do it now. If any electronic device goes off during the exam, not only will said device be confiscated until the end of the day, but you'll also lose a letter grade on the exam. If something on the exam appears out of place or incorrectly written, please let me know by raising your hand. If you need some clarification on a question, come up to my desk and ask me – but only one at a time." He began to pass out the exams, instructing everyone to keep them face down until he gave the word to start. After everyone had gotten a copy of the test, he gave his students one last look of observation, standing there with his arms crossed. Everyone seemed at least a little tense, and those students that hadn't studied were clear as day to him, because they were either the ones halfway to freaking out or the calmest ones of all.

"You may turn your exams over and begin. I'll put up how much time is left on the board and update it periodically." Lydia turned the paper over and saw the multiple choice section looking back at her. She wrote her name at the top of the page and began the exam.

 **Friday, Lunchtime – Sunny**

"I hate essays." Damien said as the group sat down at their usual spot in the cafeteria. Nathan took in the reactions of each of the juniors to what was having undergone Mr. Marshall's first test: Damien was upset, Allie looked like a mix of distracted and sad, and Lydia's attention was on the food in front of her, as if the test was already out of her mind.

"That was rough. I don't know if I even got a B on that." Allie said, taking a huge bite out of her cheeseburger. Nathan thought back to his own first test with Mr. Marshall – a test he had been a few points shy of failing. It had been _brutal._

"I don't even give a damn anymore. Whatever I get is whatever I get, I don't care." Damien put his hands behind his head.

"I hate to be the wet blanket here, but his tests don't get any easier. Actually, from what I remember, not too many more people really _fail_ his tests than any other history class, it's just that there's a ton of Cs and very, very few As." Nathan ate some of his burger. Lydia took a drink of her soda and thought over the exam.

"It _was_ pretty challenging. I don't remember ever taking an exam like that back at my old school. I'm certain I passed, I just don't know where I'll end up. I guess we'll see next week or something, whenever he's finished grading them all. Still, that's definitely my hardest test out of the way. Everything else should be a breeze compared to that." Allie still looked troubled about the exam, and turned to Lydia since Damien had already copped out on talking about it any further.

"Hey, what did you put for #4 on the short answer section?" The two girls began to talk about their test answers while Damien tuned them out. Ever since he quit the football team and joined QIB, the two of them had been talking more and more often. He still retained his interest in sports, but from talking with him Damien could tell he wasn't just some jock.

"So, Nathan... it's going to be weird not being out on the football field tonight, huh?" Damien asked.

"Aw, man. Yeah, it is. It's for the best, though. I think I'll enjoy watching the game more than playing it. Are you coming tonight?"

"Yep. No offense, but I think the team will do better now that they've got someone new to take your spot."

"None taken. I think they'll do better too. The guy they're replacing me with was probably chomping at the bit to get some play time anyway. Now he'll have tons of it. But hey, I gotta ask you something... is something going to happen tonight? I mean, is what happened to me going to happen to someone else at the football game tonight?" Damien shrugged, looking over the table at the girls.

"I don't know. Lydia said that if she hadn't been at that exact spot at that exact time, we wouldn't have known you were gone until it was too late. So... I mean, if something _did_ happen, we'd just sort of have to hope someone talks about it. We could do something like hang around the restrooms, see if someone goes in and doesn't come out, but considering how many people are there at any given time, a person disappearing into the valley is almost certainly going to be seen by someone else. We'll definitely know about it in that case. But yeah, bring your mirror. Keep it in your car, and park kinda close to where the dancers' practice room is in case we need to go. Oh, and has Lydia told you yet about the enchantments? How we give some of our clothes to her and she has the people in the Velvet Room infuse Personas into them?"

"Wait, what? Enchantments? Infuse Personas into clothing?" Nathan looked at Lydia, who had caught his question. It was then she realized that between studying, helping Gerald, and finally getting together the materials for that not-an-actual-school-project art project, she hadn't told Nathan about the clothing enchantments.

"Oh. Sorry, Nathan... I really should've told you earlier, but I got so busy I forgot. I can take an outfit into the Velvet Room and have Victor infuse the power of a Persona into it. When you wear it, you gain whatever power was put into it. We've been going to the mall to buy new clothes for that, but I don't see why you can't just use whatever clothes you have at home. I don't expect anything to happen tonight, but you should bring a change of clothes just in case we have to go to the valley."

"Got it. Anything else I need to know?" Lydia thought for a moment and tried to come up with something she hadn't already told him.

"Whether we go today or tomorrow, just remember that fighting in the valley is a lot more tiring than it seems. You saw how worn out we were when we got back to the real world after saving you; the exhaustion doesn't kick in until we actually arrive back here. So... if you have any plans this weekend that involve a lot of physical activity, make sure you find some time to rest after we're done."

"Alright." The group then spent the rest of lunch discussing their upcoming tests, as well as whether or not they should meet up again to go into the valley. While everyone _could_ go in from wherever was most convenient for them, all of them getting together at Damien's house while the rest of his family was out and about provided everyone with a reason as to why they'd be gone for several hours and tired afterwards, and so they decided to meet there tomorrow if they didn't go today.

 **Friday, Evening – Clear**

All four members of QIB were on edge as the football game got underway, the possibility that someone else could disappear tonight always lurking in their minds. Nathan, Damien, and Allie all sat together in the stands and watched the game play out – this time the Falcons were doing very well against their opponents, with the defense not making any serious mistakes. Allie volunteered to check the area near the restrooms every so often, since she didn't feel like watching the game the whole time unlike the guys. Lydia walked around as well, sometimes sitting down to watch the game and sometimes meeting up with Allie to find that everything seemed to be going fine so far.

Lydia looked down at her phone and responded to Tori's latest text message. She had never gone to a football game in the whole time she'd been going to school at Fulton, and so wanted updates every few minutes as to how the game was going. At some point, Lydia asked why she wasn't going to the games if she showed that much interest in them, and Tori's response was this:

"I've never had time for it. I'm always busy socializing with other families like mine on Friday nights. I've only been able to talk to you and check your texts because I keep finding ways to avoid them."

 _I imagine it's something she can't just say no to, either. She's probably been doing that since she was a baby. This is really interesting now – I didn't think I'd ever meet someone from a family like Tori's._

"Are there any times that you're not tied up?" Lydia responded. Halftime came around and Tori hadn't texted back, so Lydia wasn't able to check until after her dance routine was finished. Once she had finished eavesdropping on the football team's conversations and went back to the stands, Allie had come over to her, looking halfway relieved.

"Nothing out of the ordinary has happened. Have you heard anything?"

"No, nothing. The football team seems to be in pretty good spirits since we're up two touchdowns, but I didn't hear anything about anybody going missing this time. Hopefully the rest of the game will go without any incidents." Allie took off her glasses and cleaned them with her shirt before starting a new message on the group text.

"Hey. Is everything alright?" Damien's voice spoke up from behind Lydia. Allie looked up and stopped writing her text, noticing the guys had found them.

"Yeah. It's been nothing but a normal football game so far." Lydia said.

"Good to hear it. I'd honestly hate to have to tear myself away from this game." Nathan turned around to see his former teammates warming up for the second half.

"I'll let you know if anything happens. Lydia, could you come with me this time? I won't be as bored if you're nearby." Allie put her phone away. Nathan heard what she'd said and turned around to face her, looking surprised.

"Bored? Hey, if you want us to take shifts checking out the restrooms, I've got no problem with that."

"That's not what's boring me. Our team is 21-7 right now, right? If they keep playing the way they do, they'll probably just get farther ahead. I don't really find a one-sided victory all that enjoyable." He hadn't paid that much attention to Allie once she started doing her rounds, and a few comments from Damien were all he had to inform him that she didn't see to be that much into sports – and was here because of her friends and QIB's mission.

"Oh. Well, okay. We're going to go back to our seats now, so if anything happens, you let us know." Nathan and Damien left as the teams were beginning to arrange themselves on the field for the start of the second half. Allie turned to Lydia and took in her friend's appearance in the Falconettes' outfit, which was a form-fitting thing that sported the school colors of red, blue, and white. The makeup was intentionally overdone, she knew, but it still looked tacky on Lydia.

"What is it?" Lydia asked. Allie looked away from her and towards the restrooms, where most of the people had left from since the game was starting back up again.

"It's the eSports club. We've started up our competitive league again and our sponsor's helping us arrange matches with other schools."

"That sounds cool. Who are you playing against first?" Allie watched a student go into the men's restrooms.

"Walker High. They're decent. We should be able to win without too much of a problem." Lydia's phone vibrated, and she briefly looked at it to see that Tori had responded.

"Nope. I could probably tell you my schedule for any given day from now until the end of the school year. The only time I have to myself is during school."

Lydia decided to respond to that later. Allie was standing with her back against the wall, and looked almost sleepy in her boredom.

"I know you're not familiar with _Legion of Gladiators,_ so I won't confuse you with the details. Since we lost two of our team's five members because they graduated last year, we've had to find replacements for them. Fenrir – um, I mean David, David's his actual name – has decided he wants to be the team leader now, and he thinks he knows best as to who should join. He's not here at the game; I bet you he's at home playing some ranked right now. He'd rather have his friends be part of the team instead of the people that actually deserve it, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do to dissuade him from playing favorites." She let out a breath, and straightened out her glasses. Lydia found it fascinating that this club had problems similar to that of an actual sports team, but instead of being ran by coaches, it was pretty much ran by students instead.

"You mentioned him before, I think – this Fenrir guy. Wasn't he the leader of your team before?"

"No, that was Omar, but he's gone now. David was the beta wolf in our lineup, and always the mouthiest out of everybody. Without Omar to shut him up and have the final say, he finally gets what he's always wanted – to be the boss of our team. He's a really good mechanical player, but his decision making just isn't that _good._ The other remaining team member, Ben, doesn't really seem to like him, either, and the new people haven't actually played with him as much as we have, so they don't know what's he really like." She certainly had a lot to say about this guy, Lydia thought.

"It almost sounds like _you'd_ rather be the leader instead of him." Allie's expression perked up, initially looking surprised but changing into an understanding one once she realized Lydia's words were more true than she thought.

"I guess so. Ben's admitted that he's not up to the task of being the shotcaller, and the new guys sure as heck aren't going to do it. But it's not like I'm going to out-argue him, Lydia. He'd sooner be kicked off the team than not have the opportunity to run it now that he's a senior. Am I really going to have to get Jason involved in this? He's the club president, by the way. Any sort of dispute regarding teams in the club gets resolved by him if the teams themselves can't work it out." Lydia shrugged.

"You might have to. I mean, there are some girls on the dance team that I wish I could kick off of it, even though they're really good at dancing. It's not within my authority to do that, though – Coach Carter is the only one who can do that. She isn't around to see all the drama that goes on in the team, so if I were to go to her and argue that so-and-so should be kicked, I have no proof and it ends up being my word against theirs. You, though... well, I'd like to think your situation is different." Allie looked down at the ground, her eyes only moving to notice that the student that had gone into the men's restrooms before came out. She considered her friend's words, closing her eyes as she thought.

"I don't want to do that if I don't have to. As pushy and as bossy as he is, David is the most skilled player on our team now. If we dropped him we would almost certainly be worse off than before. I don't know. Maybe I can get him to at least split the responsibility somehow. He makes early game calls, I make late ones, or something. I'll figure something out."

The rest of the game passed by without incident, no one mysteriously disappearing like they had last week. The Falcons continued to press their lead until they were up 42-14, handily winning the game and making their fans very happy. Lydia told Tori that they'd just have to find some way to hang out within that timeframe, and maybe even find a way to break out of it sooner or later. Tori's use of emoticons told her that she would love nothing more, and Lydia went to bed wondering if anything _was_ going to happen this week.

 _I'd like to think this week will be calm. How nice would it be if we actually got a break, especially since all of our tests are coming up in the next two weeks?_

She rolled over in her bed and stared at Junebug. The old ladybug pillow gave her the same look he always had, a warm and innocent smile that reminded her of a much more carefree time in her life.

"At least you won't ever change, right?" He didn't respond. Lydia didn't feel like imagining a response for him, either, preferring to just grab him and hold him next to her as she fell asleep.


	20. Chapter 19

**September 19, 2015 – Saturday, Morning – Sunny**

"Dude, you have a nice house." Nathan commented as he walked inside Damien's living room. His eyes caught sight of the bookshelves full of DVDs and he immediately went up to them, wondering what the slips of colored paper were for.

"Don't touch those. That's how we separate the genres." Damien said, deciding to turn on the TV and sit down on his couch. Lydia was finally able to wear the outfit she'd purchased at the mall last week – the loose, flowing red-and-orange top with her new white jeans, and Allie decided to do the same. Nathan turned to see her in a jean jacket and pink skirt and figured it was just another look for her, and sat down in one of the chairs near the couch.

"Hey, Lydia, I brought the extra clothes like you wanted. I'd just kept them in my truck overnight so I wouldn't forget." He showed her the plastic bag with his change of clothes in it. Lydia made a face at the bag, realizing that she could've had that enchanted last night and totally forgot to do it. It wasn't that big of a deal, though – it wouldn't take him more than a couple of minutes to change once they got to the valley.

"Good. Damien, this time let's split the group up by half. I don't think we can all fit in front of the upstairs bathroom mirror." Damien nodded.

"Yeah, sounds good. Nathan, down the hall over there is a half bathroom. Its mirror is kinda small, but it should work to get us both there without too much trouble."

"Alright. Wait, do we need to go in groups? Is that how it works when you're not being forced inside?" Damien put his hands behind his head and remembered that he'd been popping into the valley every day for the past week to go check up with F.Z. on the status of the valley. It certainly wasn't necessary that they went two at a time or more, but...

"No, you can go alone as long as you have a mirror. Lydia, let's actually just use the downstairs bathroom mirror and go in one at a time this time. It's how we end up leaving the valley anyways, and if we're exhausted afterwards none of us has to worry about falling down the stairs. I still remember how you stumbled down them last time and immediately fell asleep on this couch." Allie sat up in her spot on the couch.

"Hey, hold on a second. If we do that, we'll actually see what it looks like when someone disappears into the valley. I should've brought my video camera if I knew we were going to be doing _that._ "

"What ever happened to that footage from that first time, anyway? Did you end up publishing it online?" Lydia asked. Allie shook her head.

"I looked at the footage, but there isn't a single frame where anything useful is visible. The Idol that appeared in the mirror wasn't visible whatsoever – it literally shows me staring at myself the whole time, and when you reached out to touch me in the 1.67 seconds before the footage cut to when we got out, you moved the camera away from me and got nothing but the wall. People would just think I edited the video to make it seem like something happened when nothing actually did."

Lydia thought about whether or not it was wise to try and bring attention to the valley now that they knew more about it. What would people do to the members of QIB if they knew they were involved with the disappearances, using powers of supernatural origin? It was unlikely that the average person would just be okay with it, and every government agency in the country would probably come down to investigate.

"That's no good. Are you sure we'd want other people to know about this?" Nathan asked, crossing his arms. He continued, addressing the group from his seat.

"I mean, the reason the truth's been hidden so far is because people with Narcissus Syndrome – the people that weren't saved – have no clue about what really happened to them. All the people that _were saved_ are sitting right here in this room. The Quartz Idol Busters are the only ones who have any understanding of what's really going on or have any way to actually do something about it." Damien stood up, deciding to go to the shelves full of movies.

"Well, based how long it's taken before, we'll be out in under half an hour real time. If we all fall asleep from exhaustion, we need some long series of movies to act as a cover for us, and last time we did the high fantasy stuff. How about the _Impervious_ series? It's four whole movies." Lydia remembered what kind of series _Impervious_ was: a set of action flicks where the titular mercenary organization was hired to carry out missions in exotic environments that no one else could, or something. The most recent one had come out last year – _Impervious Summit,_ which had the team go to the Himalayas.

"I love _Impervious._ Sure, I'll watch that. What do you two think?" Nathan asked the girls.

"That's fine. I've seen them all several times already, but it's been a while since I've seen them last." Allie said. Lydia shrugged.

"I'm okay with that. Is there anything else we need to take care of before we go?" Everyone responded that they were ready to get going, and Damien led everyone down the hallway to the half bathroom after he was done starting off the first movie. He let Lydia go in first. Holding her mirror by her side, she looked into the bathroom's mirror until her reflection began to turn striped, and in a flash she was inside the valley once more. From the others' perspective, there was no flash of light, no warping sound, or any indication that Lydia had disappeared other than seeing her abruptly vanish into thin air.

"Wow. Maybe that's why the quarterback never noticed I was gone. When you go, there is _no_ signal about it. You could literally look away for a second and miss it." Nathan said, scratching his head as Allie stepped into where Lydia had just been standing.

"It's not really all that surprising, honestly. When you come out of the valley, it looks about the same – there isn't a visible portal anywhere. You can stick your head through it on the valley side, which on our side makes you look like a floating head. F.Z.'s portals don't last forever, though. I wonder what would happen if some part of you got caught in one as it was closing." Damien said. Allie gave him an amused look before warping into the valley herself, followed by the two guys.

When all four of them had arrived, F.Z. showed up wearing another outfit – this one appeared to be her most casual-looking one so far, as it was just a v-neck t-shirt and shorts made from grass with quartz tennis shoes. She stretched as if she was preparing to do a set of exercises.

"Well, look who finally showed up again. I haven't seen anything interesting happen all week, so can we get going and start killing some Shadows already?" Lydia looked to the Velvet Room door and then to Nathan, who was holding his bag of extra clothes.

"In a minute. I've got to get Nathan some enchanted clothing. F.Z., there's also something I want to talk to you about later." Lydia got the bag from Nathan and went into the Velvet Room, where Victor greeted her with the same polite tone he had used before.

"May I assume that you are here to have some more clothing enchanted?" The white-haired attendant asked, earning a nod from Lydia. She didn't quite know what Nathan's Persona was capable of yet, but since he was likely to use a lot of physical attacks, she went and infused Senri into the clothing.

"Will there be anything else today?" Victor asked as Lydia put the clothing back in the bag.

"Maybe later. My friends and I are going to fight some Shadows, so I might be back with some Shadow fragments or new Personas for Igor to fuse." Igor's eyes briefly looked towards her at the sound of his name, his grinning expression remaining unchanged.

"I see. Best of luck in your endeavors, then. We look forward to seeing you again." Lydia left the Velvet Room.

"Nathan, catch!" She tossed the bag to him. F.Z. raised a quartz wall and Nathan quickly changed into the outfit he had picked – a sleeveless red shirt with white basketball shorts. Once he had changed, the group proceeded to go in the direction of Damien's skyscraper. Nathan held up his mirror in front of him as they walked into the parking lot, and saw his reflection change into his Persona.

"So you just look into the mirror and call out their name, huh?" He said, looking into the eyes of the jaguar man that represented him.

"You don't have to call out their _name_ every time. Just willing their presence is enough. You also don't have to call out what move you're using, either, but it helps the rest of us if we know what you're doing." Lydia said. As they approached the building, Shadows appeared in front of them, looking like burly security guards with masks.

"Okay! Let's get started, everyone." Lydia, Damien, and Allie all summoned their Personas, each of their mirrors breaking apart into blue flames. Nathan looked down at Tepeyollotl's visage and smiled.

"Well, you heard her. Tepeyollotl! Come on out and show us your stuff!" His Persona returned the smile before the mirror was consumed by flames and he appeared before Nathan, facing the several Shadows that opposed the group.

"Strike 'em down! Mazio!" Nathan called out. Tepeyollotl pointed his staff at the Shadows, the white orb on the end crackling briefly with electricity before shooting lightning bolts at the Shadows, damaging them.

"Nice! Ra, Double Shot!" Damien pointed at the Shadow he wanted Ra to attack. Ra clenched his fists and charged at the Shadow, hitting it with a one-two punch that almost brought it down. A round of Marmagna and Maraqua from the girls killed the Shadow and weakened the others, which took their opportunity to attack what they saw as the most threatening targets – Medusa and Ophelia.

"Ow! Annoying..." Allie complained after the Shadows had finished attacking her and Lydia. Nathan knew he had another way of dishing out damage, one that was physically oriented like Ra's attack.

"I'll teach you to hit a girl! Rampage!" Tepeyollotl leapt at the Shadows and spun around multiple times, swinging his staff outwards at them, striking them mulitple times and killing all but one of them. Nathan felt some of his energy go directly into that attack and was surprised to learn how much it reminded him of his old football drills.

"Oh, man. I don't know how many times I can use _that_ in a row. That was more than I expected!" Damien turned to him momentarily as he commanded Ra to use Rake on the last remaining Shadow.

"Don't sweat it. That attack was crazy good, I'm not surprised you felt it. Just pace yourself." Damien's Persona tore the Shadow into shreds, leaving behind quartz seeds. Nathan watched with curiosity as Lydia touched one of the silhouetted cards, following one of the dotted lines that appeared to another silhouetted card before watching the corresponding quartz seeds come together and produce a vine that bloomed into a flower with another card on top of it. He saw that it had the image of a red teardrop on it with a red border, the number 2 in two of the corners, and a small red sword in the other corners . When Lydia took the card in her hand, the vine dissolved and another card with a red back appeared in place of the card she had just been holding.

"It's a new Persona, Ara Mitama. And this card... huh. It looks like it has the power of a technique inside of it. Have a look." She held out the card for everyone to see: it looked like a single bullet being fired from a gun with the words "Single Shot" at the bottom. Nathan approached her and tried to touch the card, but found that it phased right through his fingers.

"What? Why can't I get ahold of it?" He asked. Damien decided to answer his question.

"For some reason, only Lydia is able to do anything with the cards that come out of those quartz seeds. We can't even touch the seeds, either. Since she's the only one that can use multiple Personas and all the other card effects benefit all of us, it's not really that big of a deal that she gets to keep that skill card. It doesn't even look like that good of one, to be honest. Not for us, anyway – Ra has Double Shot, Medusa has Viper Strike, your Persona has Rampage... they're all better skills than that one. Heck, Ophelia might actually be able to use a physical attack now if Lydia wanted to use it on her." Lydia looked at the card and shrugged before putting it in her pants pocket.

"Ophelia's specialty is magic, not physical. We already have enough physical power between us. I'll find something to do with the card – maybe Victor will trade me money for it. F.Z., how's it look inside the skyscraper?" The ghost girl pointed towards the top of the building.

"There's another one of those cocoon things where you guys fought Damien's Idol. I searched every room in that building – for it being fifty stories tall, there's a whole lot of nothing on the floors. Past the tenth floor there's an elevator that takes you up to the forty-ninth floor. I'm pretty sure it's the route Damien went through to get up there. No shortage of Shadows inside, that's for sure." Nathan wondered what she meant by "cocoon thing", but he figured he'd see it soon enough.

"That's a sure source of money. I don't really think we can clear all the floors _and_ take out the Shadow at the top in the same day, so let's just do the first couple of floors and then go to the top." Lydia said, leading the group to the entrance.

"So we're going to that room where we fought the microwave, right?" Allie asked. Damien smirked as he held open the door for everyone to go inside.

"I almost wish that thing would show up again. It sounds ridiculous and I want to fight it." Damien said, making Nathan laugh.

"You and me both, man."

QIB spent their time going up the first few floors of the skyscraper, wiping out the Shadows with F.Z. helpfully pointing out their positions before they sprung out of the nooks and crannies of the building. The windows by the staircase leading up to the floor where they had fought the Shadow that had held the card key let through the perpetual sunshine of the valley. F.Z. was at the front of the group, making sure Shadows didn't ambush them when she looked out the window and down at the other dungeons the valley had created from the people QIB had saved.

"What... the hell. When did _that_ get there?!" The rest of the group entered the stairwell and looked out the window at what F.Z. had yelled about. From their place several floors above the ground they could see that there was now a new quartz building on the left of Nathan's football stadium, that looked like the biggest mansion they had ever seen, with black quartz fences surrounding the premises and a hedge maze behind it.

"I didn't even notice anyone else had been brought in here! I was too busy making sure the Shadows in here weren't... damn it!" F.Z. then quickly fashioned a sledgehammer made out of quartz and smashed the window, tossing the hammer out of the broken window before turning into wind and disappearing. Everyone stood on the steps for a moment, no one saying anything. Lydia then turned to address the group.

"Before anyone says it, I don't think we can take the way out she just did. Let's get out of here, we can always come back here later!"

In minutes, the group left the skyscraper and ran towards the new building. F.Z. was nowhere to be seen, Lydia deducing that she had probably gone further on to scout the mansion and figure out who it was that had ended up here this time. As they approached the fence, a wave of new Shadows popped out of it, their masks looking exactly the same as the ones from Nathan's dungeon. Instead of being football players and concession stand workers, however, they all looked like fat rich men with top hats and big bags of money.

"Be efficient with your skills! We have to keep our strength for the Idol!" Lydia said as everyone summoned their Personas and fought the Shadows in front of them. To their disappointment, the big bags of money were actually filled with fake coins that dissolved into nothingness along with the rest of the Shadows' bodies. Lydia put together a cup card and a wand card, helping to restore the party's health and grant them some extra power.

The group made their way through the fence and ran towards the entrance, quickly taking in the scenery around them. Outside the mansion there were quartz sculptures of various mythological creatures, arranged in rows that all pointed outwards. The grass within the fence had been expertly trimmed, with the texture of a putting green and sidewalks of smooth, polished purple quartz going towards the mansion. The mansion itself was only three stories high, but as they reached the big double doors, it seemed more imposing than it did from afar.

"I'm going to guess whoever this is wants to be filthy rich." Damien remarked as they arrived at the doors.

"Not just that, but cultured. Those sculptures were all of different fantastic creatures." Allie said.

"So, uh... guess that means we have no idea whose mansion this is." Nathan said, trying to look for any sort of nameplate or identifying feature on the doors, but being all made of quartz on the outside, there wasn't anything interesting to note.

F.Z. had apparently opened the doors for them, as they were slightly ajar. Lydia pulled them open and led the group inside the opulent mansion. They had arrived in a long hallway with many wooden doors along it, an open space that appeared to be a living room at the very end of it. The ghost girl was still nowhere to be found, she noted.

"Where is she?" Lydia muttered. She supposed that hothead would turn up sooner or later, and since Shadows ignored her existence, there wasn't any chance of her being in any danger.

"What do you want to do? Do we have time to search all these rooms?" Damien asked.

"No. It's never been that easy. Just take a quick look inside, but we'll have to go deeper into the mansion to find whoever's here. Stick together, don't get too far away from the group. Come on!" She led them down the hallway, where Shadows appeared from underneath the doorways and impeded their progress. The Shadows seemed to be a mix of mask-wearing butlers and maids, some of them holding trays with nothing on them. Lydia called out her newest Persona and found that it was quite strong for an entity with no limbs, using its body to ram opponents in an attack it called Assault Dive. It also had the ability to use Rakunda, which would certainly come in handy.

After clearing the hallway of Shadows and making sure there wasn't anyone in the rooms, the group came to the end of the hallway and found themselves in what appeared to be a foyer, with a rounded semi-circle staircase leading to a set of double doors on the second floor. It was a wide, open space, with a lack of furniture compared to all the rooms they had looked in. The doors on the first floor were slightly ajar, and were blown open by an unseen force that materialized into F.Z.

"There's no one on this whole damn floor but Shadows. I checked outside in that stupid maze, too – not a sign of anyone. Ugh, whoever this is is probably a chick. I came across a ballroom, a powder room, and a bunch of paintings of nude men in some kind of art gallery. Probably some old bag that wishes she was Cinderella or some shit." Damien laughed at F.Z.'s comments about the mansion and its possible inhabitant, making Allie shake her head and Nathan just scratch his head in confusion.

"So you think there's a wannabe Victorian lady in here? Oh, man. And apparently a dirty one, too, if she's got _those kinds_ of paintings around. Well, thanks for the update. Guess that means we'll go upstairs." F.Z. frowned and began to move towards the stairs.

"Yeah, whatever. Still can't believe I missed picking up on this place." Lydia put a hand on her shoulder as the group went up the stairs.

"Don't beat yourself up over it. We had no idea something was going to happen right as we decided to go train. I remember you said that the presence of Shadows in a dungeon kept you from fully utilizing your powers, so that's probably why you couldn't sense that someone else had come in." F.Z. scoffed, deciding to stick a sharp piece of quartz into the nearby wall and tear a scratch in it.

"I hate Shadows. Wait." F.Z. stopped at the top of the staircase, where Nathan was about to open the door.

"Something's behind that door. Something big. It's not the Idol, but whatever's on the other side of that door is no ordinary Shadow." Nathan grabbed hold of the handles on the two doors.

"Okay. Is everyone ready for a fight? I'll have Ophelia ready in case Sukukaja would be helpful. Let's try to start by finding the enemy's weakness. Nathan, does your Persona have any more skills than the Zio, Dia, and physical ones we've seen?"

"Not that I know of. I'll follow your lead, though – you definitely seem to know what you're doing."

"Open the door, then. If there's a Shadow blocking the way up here, it means we're definitely going the right way." Nathan nodded and threw open the two doors, allowing QIB to enter. The room on the other side had no electrical lighting, unlike the rest of the mansion with its bright lighting all over. The light came entirely from candles spread out in a circular formation around a table with a red cloth covering it and a crystal ball in the middle.

The group slowly went in and looked around for anything that might have tipped them off to the Shadow's exact location. There were at least a hundred candles sitting in metal candle racks like those found in churches, and the image of some pagan god was inscribed at the top of all of them.

"It's like someone was preparing to do a séance in here." Damien commented. F.Z. looked intently at the table in the middle of the room, walking towards it and picking up the crystal ball.

"Stay back. I think... I think the Shadow is right next to me." She warned them, trying to see if the crystal ball was the source of the presence she felt. The group stood several feet away from her as she threw the ball on the ground, shattering it and scattering shards of it all over the floor. When nothing happened, she sighed and smashed her fist on the table.

"Where the hell is it? It's not going to react to me, so one of you throw an attack at this table and see if it _does something!_ " She walked away from the table and the group looked at each other, wondering who was going to be the one to throw the shot. Allie took a step forward and called out Medusa, focusing on the table.

"I guess I'll do it. Magna!" Medusa fired a boulder at the table, which went through the cloth and hit the center of the pillar holding the table up. A high-pitched screech came from the center of the room as a black object leapt from the fallen table and clung to the ceiling. The doors to the room slammed themselves and cut off the bright light from outside, leaving only the candles to illuminate the area. The creature that had attached itself to the ceiling was now growing in size, until it was as large as the table that it had been resting on – and then its shape had become apparent: a hairy spider with a Shadow's mask.

"Allie, use Rakunda!" Lydia called. Allie gulped at the spider, and summoned Medusa to lower its defenses. She definitely seemed more nervous than usual, inching towards the wall without realizing it. Lydia took that to mean that she was scared of spiders, and was probably doing all she could to focus on the battle and not freeze up with fear.

"How about we kill it with fire? Ra, Agi!" Damien called forth his Persona. The fire seemed to only annoy the spider, as it barely flinched from the attack. It hissed at them and leapt at the closest target to it – that being Damien's Persona, biting into his neck and causing him to dissipate back into Damien's mirror. He cringed from the pain and growled as Allie pushed herself against the wall, Medusa mimicking her actions and moving farther away from the spider.

"Spread out! Fire doesn't seem to be effective!" Lydia said, and everyone but Allie began to circle around the spider as it crawled across the ground, up the walls, and back onto the ceiling again.

"That thing's bite _hurts,_ but it doesn't seem poisonous. If fire doesn't work, how about ice?" Damien said, watching the spider intently and rubbing his neck from the spot the spider had bitten Ra at. Lydia nodded and brought out Fortuna.

"Allie, try using Magna on it!" Allie clenched her fists and commanded Medusa to attack it. Her attack collided with the spider and caused it to dig its legs into the ceiling, trying to maintain its balance. Unlike before, where it had immediately attacked after being hit, it instead decided to run around on the ceiling spawning clumps of webbing that seemed to serve no specific purpose.

"Okay... Tepeyollotl! Whatever the heck those are, they're probably not good! Mazio!" Nathan's Persona charged up the electricity on his staff and released it at the clumps of webbing, shaking them up but not destroying them. One of the bolts hit the spider and caused it to shudder, before immediately going to a position above Nathan and releasing a wave of thin, tiny barbs at him. Tepeyollotl rushed to absorb the barbs, which prickled on Nathan's skin.

"What the heck? It can shoot _spines?_ " Nathan cried as Lydia readied her own attack. The spider's speed allowing it to respond after each and every damaging attack meant that every action they took would have to be well thought-out, and it seemed that it reacted differently to different types of attacks. Fortuna spun her wheel and surrounded the Shadow with ice, which caused it to fall off of the ceiling and land on the floor, struggling to right itself with its chilled limbs.

"I got it! Ice is its weakness! Nathan, Allie, let's use a Fusion Spell! Damien, follow up with a physical attack!" Lydia said. Nathan and Allie both focused upon the twitching spider, their Personas charging up their respective elemental attacks. Damien and Ra watched them closely, waiting for their moment to strike.

"Now!" Ice, earth, and electricity converged on the spider, encasing the boulder in ice and smashing it into the spider. As the frozen boulder made impact, it electrified the Shadow, causing it to twitch uncontrollably. Ra then came and used Double Shot on the Shadow, sending it flying into the wall.

" _Let us call that attack Icebolt."_ Tepeyollotl said before disappearing back into his mirror form. The spider landed on the ground and hissed before leaping back onto the ceiling, quickly moving around and producing more clumps of webbing, creating a rectangular shape above everyone. It then positioned itself at the center of the room and slammed its bottom into the ceiling, causing all the clumps of webbing to unravel and scatter sheets of it all over the room, quickly putting out the candles and covering everyone except F.Z., who phased through it.

"I can't see anything!" Nathan cried, trying to rip the webbing off of himself. Allie screamed as she collapsed to the floor, frantically clawing at the webbing. In the darkness, the spider moved in the direction of the sound it had heard, and leapt at Allie before she could react. Lydia tore off the webbing from herself and called out Ara Mitama, the blue flames from the summoning briefly illuminating the Shadow that was attempting to bite at Allie, who was too terrified to defend herself and continued screaming.

"Get _away_ from her!" Lydia shouted, her eyes briefly glowing as Ara Mitama spun around like a sawblade, whirling into the Shadow and pinning it into the wall, sending pieces of Shadow goo flying everywhere from where it collided with it. Allie took the opportunity to get up and bolt away from the wall, running past Lydia all the way to the other side of the room. The guys came over with their Personas already out as F.Z. moved over to keep an eye on Allie.

"Let's smash this stupid bug already!" Nathan shouted, sending Tepeyollotl to use Rampage against the wall. Instead of tearing through the Shadow's flesh, though, his staff smacked against the wall.

"Hey, maybe you should light the candles again, assholes!" F.Z. said from across the room, beginning to pull off the remains of the webbing that had been left behind after the candles had burned through portions of it. Damien turned around with Ra and tried to remember more or less where the candles were in the darkness of the room.

"Alright, sheesh! Maragi!" Ra snapped his fingers and set a fireball off above each of the candle holders, lighting up many of the candles that had gone out when the spider used its webbing attack. The rest of the webbing that covered the candles was burned away by the flames, and also lit up the room brightly enough to reveal the Shadow's position: on the ceiling above the table. The clumps of webbing had been expended, and instead of trying to attack someone again, it decided to run around depositing more clumps.

"We have to get rid of those!" Nathan focused on the clumps and used Mazio on them, damaging them. Damien followed up with another round of Maragi, the flames eating through the webbing and destroying the clumps. Knowing what would happen as soon as their attacks hit the spider, the both of them managed to dodge the spider's counterattacks. Seeing that the spider was more interested in trying to replicate its most successful technique instead of lunging at her again, Allie was able to regain her focus enough to summon Medusa. She glared at the spider, her arms and legs still shaking.

"You... are going... to _die!_ Viper Strike!" Medusa lunged at the Shadow, glowing purple fangs appearing at the tips of her fingers that she drove into it, trying to tear its mask off of its face. The Shadow struggled with Medusa and was able to run away towards the corner of the room. Everyone saw that it was no longer counterattacking and was focused solely on trying to survive.

"I think you poisoned it, Allie!" F.Z. said, running across the room to see what the spider was going to do next. It struggled to maintain its footing in the corner of the ceiling, and after a moment decided to jump onto the floor and start running around as fast as it could, hoping to catch someone. It ran towards Damien, who brought Ra over to him and guarded against the spider's last-ditch attempt to attack someone. The spider's fangs nicked Ra's arms, which hardly bothered Damien.

"Surround it! We're almost done!" Lydia called out, and she and Nathan positioned themselves such that the spider had nowhere to run. The poison from Viper Strike continued to chip away at its remaining stamina, and Lydia decided to make her move.

"Ara Mitama! Destroy that Shadow!" The red teardrop-shaped Persona came out of Lydia's mirror with an angry, teeth-clenched expression and launched itself at the Shadow, smashing it into the wall and squishing it into paste, finally doing it in. The electric lights built into the room then turned on, and the doors all unlocked. As the remains of the Shadow's corpse dissipated, a brass key was found on the floor. Damien picked it up and brought it over to Lydia, who took the key and put it in her pocket.

"We'll probably need this key to get to where the Idol is. Look, the doors on the other side are open now. Let's get out of here." Allie came over to Lydia and shivered, the guys opening the door and F.Z. going through first.

"I hope we _never_ have to deal with a Shadow like that _ever again."_ Lydia saw her friend looking down at the ground and crossing her arms tightly, trying her best to regain her composure after having to face one of her fears.

"You did really well, Allie. You managed to lower its defenses early on and that Viper Strike from Medusa helped to finish it off at the end. You're a lot stronger now than you were before now that you've faced your fear." She put a hand on Allie's shoulder and gripped it. Allie uncrossed her arms and nodded, walking through the doors with Lydia into the next room.

"Thanks, but... I still think I'm arachnophobic." Allie said, cleaning her glasses with her shirt.


	21. Chapter 20

**September 19, 2015 – Saturday, Morning – Sunny**

The room beyond the one with the Shadow QIB had just fought seemed to be a large lounge with a bar at its other end, fancy furniture set all over the room for the non-existent patrons to sit down on. F.Z. looked around and sensed that there were no Shadows in this room, for some reason – but instead, there was a tiny white cupboard sitting on top of one of the coffee tables.

"Hey, Lydia. I think there's one of those item cupboards over there." Lydia walked over and opened the cupboard, and retrieved from within it a glossy lilac-colored marble and a strange glowing essence visible through a translucent container shaped like a tulip bulb. She gave them to F.Z. to figure out what exactly the items were called and what they could do. F.Z. first held the marble and concentrated on the vibes it was giving off.

"It has this... real sobering feeling to it, I guess. Like if you got the wind knocked out of you, the stuff inside this thing would get you back up and running in seconds. It's... a bead, a bead that revives you. So I guess it's called a Revival Bead." She exchanged it for the tulip bulb container and immediately cringed at the sensations it gave her, as if it was leaking slime out of its pores.

"Wow, this thing is weird. It's like I'm tasting it with my hands. This is some kind of candy, or something. I don't know how else to describe it. The stuff in here is like a powder swirling around inside this tulip thing. Whoever eats it, inhales it, mixes it in their drink or whatever will get their spiritual energy restored... which I guess means more magical attacks. Here, take it back already." F.Z. practically shoved it back into Lydia's hands. Damien looked amused at F.Z.'s reaction to the item, which she took notice of and gave him an offended look.

"Why do you have to look at me look that?" Damien chuckled.

"You're just really funny sometimes." The ghost girl rolled her eyes and chucked a piece of quartz at him, hitting him in the forehead. He flinched and rubbed his head where the rock had struck him.

"Yeah? Was _that_ funny? Because I found it _hilarious._ " Nathan burst out laughing at the squabble they were having, which made them both turn towards him with annoyed expressions.

"Hey, that reminds me of something I once heard in elementary school. Yeah, uh, what was it... yeah, I think it was if a girl threw a rock at you at recess, it meant she liked you!" F.Z. reacted by forming knuckle guards around her fists and glaring at Nathan.

"What?! That's the stupidest shit I've ever heard. There's already one guy on this team that ticks me off, do you want to be the second?" Nathan raised his hands in defense, trying to show her that he meant her no harm. Apparently she had one heck of a temper, and she and Damien did _not_ get along very well.

"Whoa, I'm not being serious, F.Z. Calm down, it was a joke." F.Z. frowned and immediately decayed the quartz knuckles into dust. Lydia let out a breath, not willing to waste any more time with this pointless conflict.

"Cut it out, you guys. We can't afford to waste any more time. We _need_ to find a staircase." F.Z. turned around and walked towards the doors next to the bar.

"I'm going to go on ahead and search for it. Try not to get lost before I get back." She opened the doors and disappeared into the wind. The group left the large lounge and went into the next room, which was another long hallway, this one spanning left-to-right instead of front-to-back.

"Hey, uh... so what's the deal with F.Z., anyway? I know you told me about what she is and why she's here, but she seems _really_ touchy." Nathan asked. Damien decided to speak up first, leaning against the wall and keeping an eye out for Shadows.

"She was the first person that we know of to have been drawn into the valley. Her unique situation had kind of left her trapped in here for months with nothing to do until we came along. Between the amnesia and not being able to do _anything_ about the people falling to their Idols, and who knows what else, she's got a lot of issues going on inside. So yes, she has an excuse as to why she's so temperamental, but that doesn't mean it makes it any less irritating. Not for me. I know Lydia feels differently about it." He made eye contact with Lydia as he finished his thought. If there was one thing about Lydia that they _didn't_ have in common, it was that she was far more willing to be patient with difficult people than he was.

"The two of you tend to push each other's buttons really easily. If the two of you got to know each other, I think you both could work out your differences – actually, didn't you go to see her every day this week? Did you two talk about anything?" Lydia asked.

"Not really. I'd come in here, call for her, she'd tell me there hadn't been anyone, and then open a portal so I could leave before turning into wind. That was about the extent of all of our meetings this week. What would I talk to her about, anyway? She doesn't seem interested in talking to me."

Before Lydia could respond, the mansion shimmered around her, and before anyone could open their mouth to say anything, the entire thing began to waver violently before being pulled away from the group like a tablecloth off of a table, leaving them whirling about in midair and falling towards the ground. The group landed and quickly retrieved their mirrors, looking around in confusion to try and make sense of what had just happened. The entire complex had apparently vanished before their eyes, as if it had never even existed – the fences were gone, the sculptures were gone, even the hedge maze that they had seen from the skyscraper had vanished into nothing.

"What the hell was that? How could the whole _freaking thing_ just _disappear_ like that?" Damien said. F.Z. materialized beside the group, shaking in anger.

"Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it, _damn it!_ " She kicked at the ground with her foot over and over again, the quartz digging into the grass and tearing out pieces of dirt.

"We were too _fucking late!_ Whoever was in here gave in to their Idol! You all felt that, I know you fucking did – the place got ripped away from us!" F.Z. reared her foot back once again and formed a point at the edge of her shoe, tearing a huge divot in the ground. The whole group just stood there as she threw her tantrum, stunned.

 _What...? We were... too late? No, we couldn't have... but everything's gone. F.Z. said that whenever someone let their Idol merge with them... their dungeon would disappear. No, we... we failed, didn't we?_

Allie turned away from F.Z. and looked down the stretch of the valley that the mansion had just occupied. Somehow, no one had noticed that two other figures had landed on the ground a ways away from QIB. One of them was wearing a red scarf and what appeared to be an elaborate black outfit of some kind. The figure had long, curly brown hair that gave her away as a woman, and the other person seemed to be dressed in a tattered, dark brown cloak and was definitely taller than she was.

"Are those... _people_ over there?" Allie said aloud, drawing everyone's attention. F.Z. quit kicking up dirt and turned to look at the two figures in the distance, who themselves turned around to see the group. They were both clearly identifiable as a man and a woman, both of which seemed to be in their early twenties by their appearances. From a distance, the group could see that the man had short brown hair and a shaved look that made him look more rugged.

"Other people? How? How the fuck can that be possible, the victim's gone and we're supposed to be the only ones in here!" The two figures continued to approach the group until they were a few yards away, at which point everyone could clearly see their faces: almost unnaturally beautiful, with the woman having a polished, clear complexion and enticing deep brown eyes, and the man having a mysterious, dangerous aura about him with the cloak covering him.

Lydia felt a strange feeling tugging at her as she looked at them. Something about their appearances didn't seem _real_ to her – the woman's outfit was like something out of a book-to-movie adaptation where the book was originally about some cool secret society, with a corset built into the top and tight-fitting black pants, and the man seemed like he was straight out of an action video game taking place in some kind of wasteland, a huge contrast to the bright and sunny valley he was in. Where could they have possibly come from?

"Corbin, it would seem that these are our opponents." The woman spoke, her voice a lush alto that made her sound like a professional actress.

"That they are, Lynne, that they are. What do you propose we do with them?" The man responded, his voice a rich baritone that came off as sounding just as polished as the woman's.

"I'll tell you what you can do. Why don't you start with how the hell you got in here first?" F.Z. stormed forward, fashioning a lance from quartz and pointing it at the two mysterious individuals. Neither of them were fazed whatsoever by F.Z.'s threatening stance, the woman looking delighted to see her instead.

"Oh, you must be the Rebel! You are the one who stood up for herself even unto death. What a curious occurrence, to see you on the side that stands against progress. You would find what you are looking for if only you would join _us._ " Lydia stepped beside F.Z., holding her mirror tightly in her hand.

"Answer her question. Who are you, and how did you get in here? Did you have something to do with the person who was consumed by their Idol?" The rest of QIB came forward to form a line against the man and woman. Corbin looked down at Lydia, him standing a foot taller than her.

"You know our names, but you do not yet know who we are. We are Sycophanta, and as my lovely colleague has stated, you are our opponents. However, we are not looking for a fight. It would be in everyone's best interest if you would stop attempting to save people from their Idols and join us in helping them accept who they truly wish to become."

"What are you talking about? The Idols aren't _helping_ anybody! They're fakes put here to play with people's fantasies, and whoever it was you just enticed now has a mental illness back in the real world!" Damien said, for once agreeing with F.Z. in that he wanted to fight them right now. Lynne narrowed her eyes at him and smiled.

"Narcissus Syndrome, right? My dear boy, that condition doesn't stay an illness for long! It is the seed from which one's true potential grows! Miss Valerie will be grateful for its blessing before too long, and soon, she will join us in our mission."

"Who's Miss Valerie? Was that the person that was in here? And what on Earth are you talking about – the 'seed from which one's true potential grows'? What is that supposed to mean?" Nathan asked, utterly confused. F.Z. got closer with the lance and attempted to point it at Lynne's neck, but she grabbed it and broke the tip off with her gloved hand, tossing it to the ground.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. We're not here to start a fight, but we will certainly end one if we must. And to answer your question, we once thought Narcissus Syndrome was nothing but an affliction, a blight that was slowly ruining our lives. Just recently, however, only but a few nights ago, we were visited by the very same Idols we had accepted in this valley several weeks before. By acknowledging that they were who we wished to become, they granted us the power to _be_ that very person, and in doing so we were given a mission to bring the entire world into the same enlightenment. Your group's efforts work directly against that mission, and so we ask you to cease and desist. If you do not comply, we _will_ fight against you." Corbin made a flashy opening motion with his cloak and continued from where Lynne left off, revealing rows of pockets full of unknown objects.

"Although, given what has just transpired, you might not be a threat to us after all. It was far too easy to work our way through the mansion and reach its inhabitant, and she was all too willing to accept her Idol after we told her of the potential within it. Where exactly _were_ you all during all this? Why were you not right on our heels, fighting against us for the soul of that young woman?" The group all grew angry at his questions, knowing exactly where they had been and why they hadn't reached her in time. Corbin acknowledged their reactions by smiling and shaking his head.

"Ah, teenagers. Who can say that they're really good for anything but pointless drama and flights of fancy?" He stretched out his hand and pulled out an object from the air, which was a handheld mirror that appeared to be made of stone around the glass. QIB all recognized what kind of mirror it was before Corbin looked into it, and all of them immediately summoned their Personas in anticipation of what was about to happen.

"Gilgamesh, let us leave this place now." The mirror burned up in red flames before Corbin's eyes, allowing him to see QIB's corresponding blue flames as they summoned their Personas. Behind him appeared an enormous bearded man wearing a cloak similar to his own, with the head of a lion affixed to one shoulder and the head of a bull affixed to the other, a thick whip in one of his hands. He stood taller than both Ra and Tepeyollotl briefly looking down at them with a stone-faced expression before raising his whip and turning around, swinging the whip outwards and tearing a portal open behind Lynne and Corbin.

"How the hell?! What are you people?" F.Z. shouted as Corbin turned to leave through the portal Gilgamesh had created. The huge man disappeared and Corbin took hold of his mirror once again, ignoring F.Z. Everyone besides her looked to Lydia to see what they were going to do, but she just stood there, Ara Mitama's angry expression widening as it spun in midair, not doing anything.

"I'm sure we'll see each other again. You all are too tenacious to just give up." Corbin disappeared through the portal. Lynne turned around and began to move for the portal. Fed up with the inaction, Damien, Nathan, and F.Z. all rushed forward to try and take her down, leaving Lydia and Allie standing there. Ra and Tepeyollotl both flew through the air, primed to strike the mysterious woman down, with F.Z. deciding to spawn another sledgehammer to beat her with.

"Wait! Stop!" Lydia reacted too late, as Lynne pulled out a mirror from nowhere and whirled around to meet her attackers. Red flames gave way to yet another new Persona, this one being a thin young woman with blood-red hair and eyes that easily intercepted both Ra and Tepeyollotl, deflecting their attacks and pushing them backwards. The woman sneered at F.Z. and swatted her aside like a gnat, shattering her quartz weapon. Unlike the giant that was Gilgamesh, she was barely larger than Lynne, and was clothed in an elaborate black gown with a blood-red brooch that resembled the symbol associated with Narcissus Syndrome on the chest.

" _You don't want to cross us. We'll kill you, and that's a promise."_ In contrast to Lynne's alto voice, hers was a sharp soprano.

"They're very stubborn! Rosalia, why don't you give them a taste of what to expect if they insist on opposing us?" Lynne's Persona smiled, and floated higher in the air. QIB braced themselves for an attack, which came at the behest of the next two words that came out of Lynne's mouth.

"Virus Wave." Rosalia made a slashing motion with her hand at them, and bolts of black-red energy raced through the area she attacked, shocking all of the members of QIB and dismissing their Personas. Each of them found that it was hard to breathe after that attack with the burning pain in their chests, and Allie realized that the move had poisoned all of them – even Medusa, who was resistant to it.

" _That's not even the most powerful move I have, either. I hope you like my kiss of death; next time I'll cover you in them."_ Rosalia disappeared back into Lynne's mirror, which was colored black and sported a fancy design similar to Lydia's, but with sharper edges as opposed to the smooth curves on Lydia's mirror.

"I don't need to repeat what she just said. If you stand down, you can go back to your normal lives and will never have to put yourselves in such danger ever again. But something tells me I'll see you all again regardless. Oh well... until then, little children." Lynne walked away into the portal, which closed as soon as she disappeared through it.

"We're... screwed, you know that? We're fucking _screwed!_ " F.Z. said as she limped over, using what remained of her lance to help her stand upright. She had been flung far enough away to have avoided getting hit by Rosalia's attack, which meant that she didn't understand why everyone was clutching at their chests in pain.

"What _was that?_ In a single attack, she... practically brought us all to our knees." Damien said, panting.

"Media, Media, Media, Media..." Nathan was saying over and over as Tepeyollotl continuously channeled healing energy from his staff onto the group.

"What are we going to do now?" Allie asked, looking to Lydia for the answer. Lydia sat down on the grass, trying to ignore the worsening pain in her chest as she thought of something.

 _Not only did we fail, but... even if we **had** been there on time, would we have even stood a chance against those two? Rosalia probably would have wiped us out if Lynne didn't hold back, and that's not even considering what Gilgamesh and Corbin are capable of. I don't understand! Where could they have come from? They said they were formerly afflicted by Narcissus Syndrome, and then..._

"Everyone. Did you remember what Lynne said about how she and Corbin used to have Narcissus Syndrome before they got their Personas? There was just a news report about how two people suddenly were cured of it!"

"Alright... where are you going with this?" Damien asked. Nathan continued to focus his energy into Tepeyollotl, who was trying to keep Rosalia's poison from getting out of control.

"They were teenagers. I remember it, they were teenagers like us. Think about it, who would even claim to not only have _had_ Narcissus Syndrome, but also say they were _cured_ of it? Who would be able to get into this place and use that as an explanation?" F.Z. was now able to stand on her own thanks to Nathan's repeated casts of Media, and reformed her lance.

"Okay, but those two were definitely _not_ teenagers. So you actually _believe_ that shit about them being empowered by their Idols?"

"Hey, uh... guys, I'm starting to run out of energy for this and the poison is getting worse by the second. Seriously, it's like I'm on fire on the inside." Nathan said, straining to keep everyone from losing stamina. Lydia took out the tulip bulb-shaped item from her pocket and tossed it to Nathan.

"I know, it's hurting me too. We don't have anything that can immediately cleanse it, so just consume that and keep using Media." Nathan popped the top off of the container and put his hand in the swirling essence, which began to orbit his hand instead of the container. He put it near his mouth and stuck his tongue out onto the essence, which tasted like effervescent powder candy.

"Oh! Whoa, this stuff is sweet! And it really does work..."

"The rest of what Lynne said stood out to me. Apparently, according to her story, she and Corbin were visited by their Idols _again_ and were given the ability to become them, and apparently the Persona came with it. Would that mean that that's who we were seeing just now? Something about their appearances didn't feel _real_ to me, too. I bet you that those versions of themselves were probably what their Idols looked like." Allie sat down next to Lydia, trying not to focus on the battle between Nathan's healing and Rosalia's poison going on inside her chest.

"So... what are we going to _do?_ They're definitely more powerful than us, and they seem to have a better sense of when people get dumped in here. How are we going to beat them?" Lydia sighed, folding her hands and looking down at the ground.

"There's only one thing I can think of: we have to train and become stronger. I don't... I don't just want to give up on this. In fact, now that there's someone actually trying to stop us, I _really_ don't want to give up on this. Allie, they said they wanted to do this to the whole _world._ Maybe Lynne was just exaggerating, but she wasn't kidding, I could see it in her eyes. If we ignore this, more and more people are going to be affected by Narcissus Syndrome – they might even be people we love. She called herself and Corbin members of a group named Sycophanta. You heard what they said, they're not satisfied with just having people accept their Idols – they want to add to their number. Can we really let that happen?" F.Z. groaned, digging her lance into the ground.

"This is _so_ fucked up... you guys can't take them down, and if you can't take them down, they'll just keep coming in here and stealing people for their shady-ass organization. And then they can open their own portals?! Why? I swear, if I wasn't _stuck here_ you guys would always be one step ahead of those assholes!" She let out a cry of frustration before taking her lance and tearing open a portal back to the real world with it. She attempted to thrust the lance through the portal, but a loud clang resulted instead. She then dropped the lance and attempted to run into the portal shoulder-first, only to slam up against it like the portal was a brick wall before falling onto the ground.

"I can't deal with this right now. I'm done, I can't deal with this right now." F.Z. turned into wind and disappeared from the area, leaving the portal open for the rest of QIB to go through.

"Wow, you really weren't kidding about her being trapped in here. Man, she really went at it, too. I feel bad for her." Nathan said, occasionally eating some of the sweet essence that was within the tulip bulb container. Lydia looked at him and watched as he licked at the powdery floating essence that was giving him fuel for Tepeyollotl's continued healing.

 _She never **did** tell us what that was called. Ow, what did Rosalia **do** to us? The last time I was poisoned wasn't nearly as bad as this... somehow it gets worse over time instead of staying the same! I hope it goes away soon, or else we're going to be in trouble... Ophelia, do you know anything about this?_

" _Not much more than you, I'm afraid. Rosalia's poison is certainly more potent than the average, though. If we are to prove victorious over her in the future, we **must** have a way to get rid of it immediately or render us and our allies immune to it. Alternately, we could focus all of our attacks upon her and remove her from the fight before she can deal lasting damage to us."_ Ophelia responded in her mind. Damien decided to speak up next.

"She had a point. If Sycophanta really is just like us and they're teenagers, then they're probably at school during the day, too. F.Z. would always be the first one to know if someone was taken here, but... well, what would we do if someone was taken in the middle of the day, cut class? I don't mind doing _that_ if it means keeping Sycophanta from getting their hands on them, but considering people show up here on a weekly basis? We're gonna get found out." Damien decided to sit on the grass as well, rubbing his temples to try and ignore the burning from the poison, which was starting to interrupt his train of thought. Lydia decided to lay down and stare up at the blue sky of the valley, closing her eyes as she spoke.

"We have to work within our limitations. What else can we do? Remember we still have a bunch of tests at school we have to worry about, and we all each have our own things that we have to do... we'll make some time next week to go train, okay? There are still plenty of Shadows for us to get rid of around here." She felt a throbbing in her head began to form from the poison, and summoned Senri to cast Media to help out Tepeyollotl.

"Why isn't it getting any better? How are we supposed to beat someone who can do _this_ to us?" Nathan asked.

"We have to get some kind of poison resistance or just eliminate Rosalia before she can do anything like that to us." Lydia responded, closing her eyes again.

"Medusa's resistant to poison and her attack still got through to me. What about a way to cure poison? There has to be a Persona out there that can do that, right?" Allie asked, laying down beside Lydia.

"I'm sure of it. Probably whatever has it is also either resistant or immune to poison, too – which means I can take it to Victor and enchant our next set of clothes with its power. Ugh. When is this poison going to _wear off?_ " Everyone was thinking the same thing until the burning abruptly stopped, the healing energy from Tepeyollotl and Senri breaking through like a refreshingly cool waterfall on top of all of them.

"Finally. Well, I've had enough for today. You're right, we have to train and find a Persona that can deal with Rosalia, but... damn, I'm beat. We're all going to pass out when we get back to my house. We're no Impervious _,_ that's for sure." Damien stood up and walked towards the portal F.Z. had made. Nathan and Lydia's Personas disappeared, and Nathan let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, man. How much easier would our job be if we had the stuff they had? I bet you we'd win in no time if we had a couple of machine guns and stuff on our side." Allie stood up.

"They don't let minors wield machine guns, unfortunately. All we have to fight with is our Personas, so we need to focus on making them stronger. And I call dibs on the couch."

"The couch is mine, too! Allie and I will share it, the guys can just sleep on the chairs." Lydia cut in before Damien or Nathan could respond. Damien shrugged and put his hands behind his head, figuring he wouldn't get a spot on the couch anyway. Nathan nodded, and looked at the portal with its moving zebra stripes.

"Alright, fine. Let's get out of here, then. Go ahead, Allie, Lydia. You two went first going in, so you two should go out first too."

 _I have a feeling that I should come back when I'm feeling better to talk to F.Z. again. I don't know what I'm going to say to her, though. There's no way she can leave the valley, and that's really getting to her now that it's clear how much that would help us. Damien doesn't get along with her and Nathan's practically just met her, and Allie... well, Allie probably wouldn't mind coming with me, but F.Z. doesn't seem like she'd talk about her feelings to her. One thing I know for sure, though: this whole thing just got a lot more complicated._

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 **A/N: With this update, this story is now the longest work of fiction I've ever created. It's not anywhere close to being over, though, whereas that previous work was already finished by this point. For all the people that have been following this story so far, thanks for reading. There'll be an extra bonus chapter detailing an alternate outcome to this chapter in the next update, and like the one before it, it will be non-canon.**


	22. Chapter 20 - Alternate Outcome

**A/N: The chapter you are about to read is considered non-canon to the rest of this story. It depicts an alternate outcome that could have happened during an important event.**

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 **September 19, 2015 – Saturday, Morning – Sunny – Alternate Timeline**

"Corbin, it would seem that these are our opponents." The woman with long, curly brown hair spoke in a powerful alto voice.

"That they are, Lynne, that they are. What do you propose we do with them?" The man with the rugged complexion and the dark-colored cloak asked her, the rich baritone of his voice complementing the woman's.

"I'll tell you what you can do. Why don't you start by telling us how the hell you got in here?" F.Z. formed a lance out of quartz and charged forward with it, stopping a few feet away from them and pointing the lance at the woman. Neither her nor the man looked threatened whatsoever by this action, and the woman in particular seemed delighted to see F.Z.

"You shimmer as if you're not actually here... you're the Rebel! You're the girl who resisted her ideal self even if it meant she would die for it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see you as my enemy. We don't have to fight each other – we can help you obtain what you want if you would only join us!" Lydia and the rest of the group moved forward to stand in a line alongside F.Z.

"Answer her question. Who are you? How did you get in here? Why were you in the mansion?" Corbin looked down at Lydia, his presence feeling more imposing now that he was closer.

"Who are we? We are Sycophanta, and as my gracious companion has told you, you are our opponents. Do not think we have come here looking for a fight. It would be to everyone's benefit if you would stop trying to save people from their Idols and join us in helping them accept who they truly wish to become."

"What are you talking about? The Idols aren't _helping_ anybody! They're illusions made up to distract people from who they really are! Whoever it was you just tricked into accepting theirs now has a mental disorder back in the real world!" Damien said, wanting to stop these two before they could have any further opportunities to act. Lynne narrowed her eyes at him and smiled.

"Narcissus Syndrome is only a mental disorder for but a fleeting moment, my dear boy! It is the seed from which one's true potential grows! Miss Valerie will come to realize that potential very soon, and then she will join us in our mission."

"Miss Valerie? Was she the one who made that mansion? And what do you mean, the 'seed from which one's true potential grows'? What is that supposed to mean?" Nathan asked, not understanding her words. F.Z. attempted to stab Lynne in the neck with her lance, but she grabbed it and snapped the tip off with her gloved hand, tossing it to the ground and shaking her head.

"Please don't try that again. We'd rather not fight you, but if you insist on attacking us, we will not hold back in defending ourselves. As for your question, we used to think that Narcissus Syndrome was nothing but an affliction, a blight that was slowly ruining our lives. However, it was only a few nights ago that we were visited by the very same Idols that we had accepted in this valley several weeks before. By acknowledging that they were who we wished to become, we were given the power to _be them,_ and in doing so we were given a mission to bring the whole world that same power. Your group is trying to stop this from happening, and so we ask you to cease and desist. If you refuse to get out of our way, we _will_ fight against you the next time we meet." Corbin made a flashy opening motion with his cloak and continued from where Lynne left off, revealing rows of pockets of unknown objects in the folds of his cloak.

"Although, given that we were not even aware of your existence until now, it's unlikely you will actually be a threat to us. It was very easy, really, to get to where the inhabitant of this mansion was alone with her Idol. Where exactly _were you all_ when we got there? Why were you not right behind us the whole time, forcing a fight between us for that young woman's soul?" The group tensed up, everyone unwilling to answer his question and angry with him for pointing out that they were too late. Corbin acknowledged their reactions by smiling and shaking his head.

"Ah, teenagers. Who can say that they're really good for anything but pointless drama and flights of fancy?"

 _Pointless drama? Like how F.Z. and Damien have something against each other, or like how Carla and Dawn have the most ridiculous feud I've ever had the misfortune to personally witness? We're **better** than that! And flights of fancy... is that what he thinks of us, that we're just a bunch of kids playing with toys? What, does he think we're all just pushovers? We'll show him... no, **I'll** show them._

Corbin stretched out his hand and pulled an object from the air, which was a handheld mirror that appeared to be made of stone around the glass. QIB all recognized what kind of mirror it was before Corbin looked into it, and Lydia decided to stop Sycophanta before they could make the first move.

"Everyone, get back! Now!" Corbin's mirror burned up in red flames before his eyes, letting him see that his opponents summoned their Personas in plumes of blue flame. In front of him appeared an enormous bearded man wearing a cloak similar to his own, with the head of a lion affixed to one shoulder and the head of a bull affixed to the other, a thick whip in one of his hands. He stood taller than both Ra and Tepeyollotl, and looked down at them with a stoned-faced expression before crossing his arms in defense.

"Oh, you're gonna make the first move? Come on, save _us_ a piece, Lydia!" Damien said, letting the group's leader take the first shot.

"Yeah! If you go first, there won't be anything left for us to attack!" Nathan added. Lydia's response was to chuckle to herself before placing her mirror between her face and the imposing-looking Gilgamesh.

"Charybdis. Devour them in your maw – use Maelstrom!" The reflection of a vaguely feminine face with wild gray hair and a mouth that was completely round and lined with teeth stared back at her with blank white eyes before it was made manifest by the burning of the mirror in front of Lydia. The face of the Persona was the only thing remotely human about it: the rest of its body was long and worm-like, with spines protruding from black rings lining its dark skin.

At seeing the fearsome Persona come forth from her opponent, Lynne summoned her own Persona to fight alongside Gilgamesh – a young woman that looked tiny in comparison to the hulking giant, that looked far more fragile in her fancy black dress with the mark of Narcissus Syndrome as a blood-red brooch on the chest. She looked up to see that Charybdis was briefly looking in her direction and faltered momentarily, before changing her expression and glaring back as menacingly as she could at her.

" _You don't scare me! I'm Rosalia, my poison will-"_

Charybdis drowned her out by letting out a howling shriek towards the sky, causing water to flow in huge torrents around Sycophanta. The water rapidly sped up until it was a massive whirlpool around them all, closing in on them and knocking Gilgamesh and Corbin off their feet as the water's pull was too strong for them. The rest of QIB watched in awe as they beheld yet another one of Lydia's ridiculously powerful Personas, and were surprised to see that Lynne and her Persona were managing to hold their ground in the whirlpool. Gilgamesh and Corbin were flung out of the whirlpool and landed close to the point where they originally were once the mansion had disappeared, Corbin's Persona dissipating as he laid on the ground, unable to act. The whirlpool then subsided, leaving Lynne and her Persona still standing in place, panting heavily.

"How can you _be_ that _strong?!_ " Lynne uttered, watching as Lydia's Persona disappeared back into her mirror. The reactions of the rest of her group told her that each of them were probably wondering the same thing, and considering Corbin had had his Persona's one weakness ruthlessly exploited, she knew that this girl was gunning for her next.

" _We need to get out of here!"_ Rosalia spoke in her mind. Lynne nodded.

" _Agreed. She's too much for us to handle with just two."_

"It's not my strength alone, Lynne. It's because of my friends that I'm so strong. Now, Charybdis! Teach her what it means to _fear:_ use Malicious Glare." Charybdis came forth again and rushed at Rosalia and Lynne, but stopped inches away from Lynne and made eye contact with her, her eyes exuding two laser-thin beams of indigo light that pierced through Lynne's pupils. Charybdis then disappeared and the others watched as Rosalia turned back in surprise before dissipating. Lynne then clutched at her chest before stumbling backwards, unable to do anything but stare with wide open eyes at the girl that had dealt with both her and Corbin in only two moves.

Lydia sighed at the curly-haired woman, deciding to sit down on the grass with her legs crossed.

"You guys should be able to take them now." She said nonchalantly. The rest of QIB gave each other questioning looks before Damien and Nathan stepped forward, summoning their Personas. Lynne simply stood there and took the damage, unable to respond due to the fear paralyzing her. Corbin struggled to stand after being thrown about by Maelstrom, and in fact was easy pickings for Allie and F.Z., who managed to knock him down to the ground again with a Viper Strike from Medusa and was stabbed at multiple times by F.Z. and her spear. The ghost girl was disappointed to find out that her attacks meant practically nothing compared to those of the Persona-users, as she was only able to leave a scratch on Corbin and he twitched throughout as if she was merely pinching him instead of trying to drive a lance made of quartz into him.

In the span of a few minutes, Sycophanta was defeated, their two members on the ground next to each other. F.Z. pointed her lance once again at Lynne's throat, but Lydia pushed it aside and decided to squat down next to her.

"Don't worry. We won't kill you." Lynne squealed and shivered and tried to scoot away from her, still fearful and breathing heavily.

"Right, the fear. Ophelia, get rid of that so I can talk to her properly." Ophelia appeared behind her and cast Patra on Lynne, which removed the paralyzing sense of dread that had settled upon her. Now she felt exhaustion, frustration, and humiliation instead, and refused to look Lydia in the eye.

"You asked us to stand down and stop what we were doing. Well, now I ask _you_ to stand down. I'm not asking you to join us, in fact I'd rather you go back to the life you had before as a normal high school student – both you and Corbin. It'll be better for everyone this way." F.Z. humphed and put her lance into the ground, not willing to let go of it even if it didn't really do anything useful. Corbin was flat-out unconscious and could not respond whatsoever, leaving Lynne as the only person to communicate with. She turned her head to look at Lydia.

"But... why would you deny humanity its opportunity to ascend? We were meant for more than the mediocre lives we're stuck with. We all wish we could be better than we are in the real world. Why would you deny me, deny _us,_ the chance to realize our wildest dreams?"

"It sounds appealing, I know. The temptation to seize everything you've ever wanted in an instant is such a hard thing to turn down when it's right in front of you like that. But... it doesn't come for free. There's nothing _wrong_ with what you want, Lynne. I understand that, I think all of us understand it in one way or another. But it's the way you're trying to do it that just doesn't work." Lydia stood up, placing her mirror in front of her.

"Listen, I'm going to revive Corbin and heal both of you so you can guys can go home without anyone growing suspicious. If you try anything funny, I have no problem putting you both back on the ground a second time. Okay?" Lynne sighed, and rolled her eyes.

"I understand." Lydia summoned Ophelia once more and did as she said, allowing the both of them to stand refreshed as if the short-lived battle had never happened. Corbin shook his head to clear his mind, and let out a breath as he spoke the obvious.

"We lost, didn't we? Fair and square... _you_ are no ordinary teenager, um... actually, I don't know your name. Who _are you?_ "

"My name is Lydia White. If you want to talk more about this whole thing, come find me. I'm a junior at Fulton, and you'll see me in the mornings at the east entrance." Lynne and Corbin looked at each other and then to her, not saying a word.

"F.Z., open a portal for them. Everyone, if you want to get back to training, I don't mind starting back from where we left off. We still need to be prepared for the next person that winds up in here."

"I'm okay with that. There's uh, still the cocooned Shadow at the top of my skyscraper that we need to take care of." Damien said, and he and the others began to walk towards the skyscraper.

"You're lucky she's nice enough to heal you. I would've let you lay there." F.Z. remarked as she opened a portal for them. Corbin decided to walk through without saying anything.

"F.Z., go scout the upper floors of the building. I'll catch up to you all in a minute." F.Z. nodded and turned into wind, briefly surprising Lynne. The two of them were now alone with each other.

"The east entrance at Fulton, huh? Why did you assume I went there?" Lydia shrugged.

"Just a guess. I was going to give you my phone number if you didn't, but things like this are better talked about in person. Also, I know that's not what you _really_ look like. I want to see you as you look in the real world, too." Lynne narrowed her eyes at her, wondering just how much she actually knew. This girl was hiding things from her, and now she wanted to find out just what the deal was.

"Fine. I guess I'll see you on Monday, then. East entrance."

"Yes. See you then." Lydia watched Lynne go through the portal and walked back towards the skyscraper, looking around at the valley filled with grass, quartz, and Shadows.

 _I wonder how much more complicated things will get **this time.**_

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter will probably make more sense if you're familiar with how New Game+ works in the Persona series. Lydia being on a "second cycle" in this chapter is why she has Charybdis, the Ultimate Persona of the [redacted] Arcana and takes out Sycophanta solo with no effort. I originally was just going to write a scenario where Sycophanta wipes out the party, but I think the original chapter implied that possibility well enough already. Plus, I thought this was cooler.**


	23. Chapter 21

**September 20, 2015 – Sunday, Morning – Cloudy**

"F.Z.! It's me, Lydia! Come on out, I came alone!" Lydia called out to the air. She hadn't slept well last night due to the fact that she and the rest of QIB had spent the entire morning sleeping yesterday, which threw off her sleep schedule and caused her to wake up before the sun had even risen. As such, the perpetual sunlight in the valley was blinding until her eyes had adjusted to it.

The wind blew by her and F.Z. materialized in front of her, with her arms crossed and wearing a fresh copy of the outfit from yesterday. She was frowning until she realized that Lydia hadn't bothered to change out of what she had gone to sleep in – a pink t-shirt, blue shorts, and a pair of white slippers. It had looked like she had only bothered to brush her hair before coming in, which couldn't have taken very long considering it didn't even go down to her shoulders.

"You look like you just got out of bed. If you're here to ask me if anything else has happened since the last time you guys were here, no, nothing's happened."

"Yeah, it's almost six in the morning in the real world. I wanted to talk to you, and I figured no one else in the house is even awake yet, so they won't notice I'm gone." Lydia yawned. F.Z. decided to spawn two quartz chairs, one for her and one for Lydia.

"You want to talk, huh? Well... sit down, then." Lydia looked behind her and sat down on the chair. F.Z. moved her chair next to Lydia's and the two of them looked out into an unoccupied region of the valley.

"I don't know what it is you're going to say to me. Yeah, I know you think of me as a member of the group, but... what good _am I_ to you guys? I can't fight, I can't help you get an edge in saving people or whatever... all I'm good for is running around dungeons and pointing out Shadows, which I _guess_ is something, but..." She trailed off. Lydia watched as she looked down at her feet, thinking with a sad look on her face.

"I still don't really know why I'm here. What was the point in keeping me here instead of just _ending me_ when I was killed?" Lydia looked around at the buildings that had remained behind since the people they were created from had been saved: Allie's warehouse/club, Damien's spy skyscraper, and Nathan's football stadium. Directly behind her was the space where Valerie's mansion would have been if they had been able to save her, and the emptiness of that spot wasn't something she could stand to look at for very long.

"There's so much we still don't know about what's going on. If there's one thing I do know, is that nothing in here seems to happen without a purpose. Everything that's taken place here has had a result that's affected other people – the disappearances, Narcissus Syndrome, the formation of QIB... so there has to be some reason as to why you're still _here,_ F.Z." The ghost girl looked at Lydia and narrowed her eyes at her.

"Yeah? Well, what _is it?_ Why was I taken away from the real world, forced to deal with a version of myself I didn't want to see, buried alive for not accepting it, and then stuck here _alone_ with _no one_ to tell me who I was or where I came from?! Do you _have_ an answer for that, Lydia?" Although she raised her voice at her, Lydia was surprised to hear that F.Z.'s usual cursing streak had been tempered, at least for the moment. She took in a breath and met F.Z.'s translucent brown eyes, daring to stare back at her as she gave her answer.

"I don't. I don't _know_ why all these things happened to you. That's why we're all fighting against the Shadows – so we can get those answers. And... um, this is also the first time you've said anything about how you died. I didn't want to ask in case you were uncomfortable talking about it, but I noticed you just said something about it." F.Z.'s expression went from upset to surprised to upset again as she realized she let slip another piece of information about herself, and crossed her arms while sighing in frustration.

"Hmph. Do you really want to know? If I tell you, you better swear not to tell anyone else."

"It'll be just between us, I promise." F.Z. narrowed her eyes at Lydia again.

"Seriously, I don't want Damien or Nathan making some stupid remark about it later. Don't. Tell. Anyone."

"I swear I won't tell a soul. It won't ever leave my lips." F.Z. broke eye contact with Lydia, having been satisfied with the sincerity of her answer. It was beginning to get easier to handle the honesty with which the group's leader always treated her, though she still didn't really like looking into those eyes of hers for too long.

"Fine. You see... I still can't remember what my dungeon looked like. Seriously, I'm trying to remember what it is and there's just _nothing_ where that memory should be. Same goes with my Idol – I can easily remember rejecting it, but not exactly what I said to it or what it said to me, even after it transformed. But what I _do_ remember? Getting cornered, like a rat. Trying to fight and having my legs broken so I couldn't run away. And then..." F.Z. had started to rattle off the details quickly, but stopped as a gap in her memory suddenly caved, filling her in with the image of her previous self trying to crawl away with her arms even though her legs were broken as the Idol greedily dug a hole next to her.

"And then..." She trailed off again.

"It's okay. Take your time." Lydia said, keeping her eyes on F.Z. as her gaze was frozen at the ground. She suddenly shuddered, shaking her head and letting out a breath before closing her eyes and tilting her head up towards the sky.

"I was _crawling_ with my _arms._ I didn't even make it a couple of feet before I was picked up and thrown into the grave, and then buried in dirt." She put her hand to her throat, momentarily recalling that it was not the pressure from the dirt or bleeding out from the fractures that had actually finished her off, but instead the lack of air after a foot of dirt had been thrown on top of her.

"And then... eventually, I stopped breathing. I think... I think I was actually okay with it, in those last moments. I was proud that I had died fighting for myself. But..." She sighed, furring her brow as she tried to pinpoint the other feeling that had been within her as she expired. Lydia saw a legitimate look of sadness on F.Z.'s face as she figured out what that feeling was, and she slumped in her chair and crossed her arms.

"...yeah. I was sad, wasn't I? And not the 'Oh no, I can't believe I'm actually going to die' kind of sadness. No, it was... like I was _bitter_ at the world, as if it had put me through so much _shit_ only to kill me before I even turned fifteen." She blinked, and then looked down at herself to see if the words that she'd just said were true. Lydia had wondered how old she was ever since she first saw her – she had guessed she was probably in high school, and it seemed that F.Z. was a freshman when she died.

"Do I even want to _know_ what was in my past anymore?" F.Z. asked, falling silent. Lydia considered the possibility that whatever had happened to her before she was taken into the valley really was full of suffering and torment – the kinds of things that would have dampened F.Z.'s outlook on the world.

 _The thing is, F.Z's personality isn't gloomy or lethargic. She's always energetic and gung-ho. She likes to fight, to argue, and yet despite being pushy and loud she's never turned away from helping us. I wonder if maybe her brash attitude isn't a way to cover up how she really feels inside – but then again, she's not very good at hiding her emotions anyway. Whatever happened to her, she still had enough inner strength to stand up for who she was, even if it meant dying for it._

"Whatever is in your past won't change how I look at you. It might come to you later on, the same way bits and pieces have been returning to you over the past several weeks – but it doesn't matter to me where you came from, F.Z. I know you as someone who never hesitates to do what she thinks is right, as someone who's as loyal to what she loves as she can possibly be. That's who you are to me, and I don't think that's ever going to change." F.Z. looked over at her with half-lidded eyes, and shook her head before looking back down at the ground.

"I don't understand why you care so much. What have I done for you that would make you so willing to help me?" Lydia got off of her seat and decided to stand in front of F.Z.

"Stand up."

"What?"

"Stand up." F.Z. did as she was told and stood up from her quartz chair. Being shorter than Lydia, she looked up at her and wondered what she was about to do. Lydia put her hands on her shoulders and spoke clearly and without reservation.

"Now listen. It's not about trading favors. The reason I _care,_ F.Z., is because you're my friend. There's no other explanation. I want to be your friend, and I want you to be my friend too. That's all there is to it." F.Z. tried to keep eye contact, but couldn't stand to without wanting to tear up. Instead, she looked in every other direction but directly at Lydia, and processed the words she had heard.

"That's it, huh? Just because... you think of me as a friend."

"Yes. You know, I've been curious about something." Lydia's tone had shifted from serious to casual as she took her hands off of F.Z.'s shoulders.

"Huh?"

"The grass and quartz here are fully tangible, right? Yet you can wear them as clothing without any problems, and they're not affected by your ability to turn into wind and back. So I wondered if maybe you can't wear clothing from the real world, too." F.Z.'s eyes widened.

"Seriously? Why didn't I think of that? Well, it's not like it would help me, but..."

"I don't know for sure. I'd have to get something from my room to see. Hey, open a portal for me. I'll be right back." F.Z. generated the screwdriver piece of quartz and opened a neat circular portal for Lydia.

"Do you have a favorite color?" Lydia asked.

"Uh... I don't know, just bring me something that isn't green or white. I'm sick of those two colors."

"Okay." Lydia went back to her room and searched through her closet, deciding on a purple dress that she hadn't worn since she was fourteen. It was actually the dress she had worn to her eighth grade dance – a simple thing from back when she was about as small as F.Z. She was never going to wear it again, but she hadn't had the heart to give it away in the move, so she kept it. She took it with her back into the valley, where F.Z. had decided to amuse herself by tossing quartz knives into a quartz target. She turned from her knife throwing to see that Lydia had arrived with a simple purple dress on a hanger, and disintegrated the knives and target.

"Alright. That looks good. Give it over, let's see if this will actually work." Lydia took the dress off of the hanger and gave it to her. F.Z. raised a wall of quartz and withered away the grass clothing she was wearing, and then pulled the dress on. She found that the dress fit her well.

"This fits! Where did you get this thing?" She asked from behind the wall.

"I had it in my closet from back when I was in middle school!" Lydia responded. F.Z. shrugged, figuring that made as much sense as anything else. Now was the time to see if it could stay on; she turned into wind while still behind the wall and reformed at the same spot. To her delight, she found that the dress had remained on her instead of falling to the ground, and decided to turn into wind again and appear behind Lydia, who had seen the grass rustling on the ground and turned around to see F.Z. rematerialize in front of her.

"Hey, Lydia, check this- oh, damn it. How did you know I was coming?" Lydia smiled and gestured with her head towards the grass.

"You rustle the grass when you're in wind form. But wow, it worked! It looks good on you, F.Z. If that dress fits you well, then I could use that as a reference to buy you more clothes. And before you try to say no, remember you're as much a part of the team as anyone else. I still haven't spent all the money we got from defeating that Shadow that appeared in Allie's warehouse. We'll get even more money from getting rid of the one at the top of Damien's skyscraper, I bet, so don't feel like we're wasting anything." Having already been preempted by Lydia, F.Z. didn't know what to say. Her eyes wandered to Lydia's mirror, giving her an idea.

"Hey, let me see what I look like. In all my time in here, I haven't seen my own face, so let me use your mirror." Lydia walked over to her and handed her the mirror. F.Z. looked into it and saw her own face, fading in and out as she breathed. She had a round face, one that looked to her as if it was too young and babyish to actually be threatening at all. Her hair was a mess, its natural waviness aggravated by her tendency to turn into wind and blow it everywhere. Her eyes at least looked okay, not appearing to be too large or too small for her face.

"Huh. So this is me. I thought I'd look older. I guess being dead means I stopped aging, too." She formed a comb made out of quartz and quickly refined the edges to make them smooth, and began to comb her hair with her right hand while holding the mirror in her left.

"I need to tie this back. It looks like crap the way it is now, and it's not like I can cut it myself without making it look even worse." F.Z. tilted the mirror to see the rest of herself, and concluded that Lydia had picked out something good for her.

"I can get you a hair tie. I don't really use them since my hair's too short, but I'm sure my mom has some around the house, or I could ask Allie for some." F.Z. handed Lydia her mirror and continued combing her hair, cringing at whenever her comb encountered a knot.

"Sure, that works. Well... ugh, you see, this is what I meant the last time we talked alone. You have this way of making me _forget_ how screwed up my life's been – or what I can remember of it, anyway – and letting me do _normal_ things like trying on clothes and fixing my hair."

"You _deserve_ to be able to do _normal_ things, F.Z. If I can give you some peace from all the stuff you have to deal with, then it's worth the effort. And now that I see that you _can_ wear real-world clothes without any issue, I'll be sure to bring you something new next time I come." Lydia yawned, stretching out and wishing she had gotten a proper amount of sleep.

"Normal things... well, if you ever figure out a way to get me out of this valley, I swear I will be your best friend forever. Really, I'll get the damn BFF bracelets and everything. Hey, but speaking of bracelets, weren't Damien and Allie working on some kind of QIB accessory?"

"Mmhm. I don't know how far along they've gotten with it, and we're all taking tests this week, so I don't think they'll make any progress on it if it's not already done." F.Z. nodded, trying to remember if school exams poked at any latent memories she might've had.

"I don't remember anything about tests. But that's a memory I don't care too much about having, at least not compared to... well, you know. The actually _important_ stuff, like maybe my full _name_ , for one. Why I can't remember something as simple as that is just stupid, but whatever, I'll get it sooner or later. Anyways, you look like you still want to sleep some more, so here." She cut open a portal for Lydia, whose thoughts were split between finding clothes for F.Z. and finding a good spot on her bed to fall asleep on again.

"Thanks. See you later." Lydia went through the portal and ended up back in her room, where not even ten minutes had passed. She put the hanger back in her closet and her mirror back in her drawer before crawling back into bed.

 _She still doesn't know what her name is. We know what her initials are, though, and if she was one of the first people to disappear, maybe there's a record of a missing person that fits her. If the disappearances started happening in July, I won't have to look that far... but I'm too tired to do that now. I'll do it later._

* * *

 **A/N: Pecan Crisp - No, I don't. I did look it up since you mentioned it, and that is quite an interesting coincidence that there's a character in there with effectively the same name.**

 **SakuraDreamerz - I appreciate the comments! I'm curious as to how long it took you to read through this story. Actually, to anybody who reads these, if you have an idea of how much time you've spent reading the story up to this point, PM me. That's something I'd really like to know.**


	24. Chapter 22

**September 23, 2015 – Wednesday, Early Morning – Sunny**

As Lydia was getting ready for school, she noticed that Tori had texted her about her whereabouts this morning, saying she'd be at that religious gathering that her and her friends had been passing out flyers for.

"I know you're not really interested, but I just wanted to let you know where I'd be. In case you were wondering why I wasn't around to talk this morning."

"Who's texting you?" Gerald asked, happily filling his bowl of cereal with milk. He let the flakes soak in the milk, pressing down on them with a spoon as he looked at his sister with a curious expression.

"Tori. She's going to be at that flagpole prayer thing this morning, so she won't be around to talk to me."

"Oh, yeah. She's that Christian chick you were telling me about. Yeah, you were saying that she kinda wants to get away from it all? I don't blame her, I mean, I can't imagine having to deal with something you don't really like every day of your life the way she does." Lydia twirled her phone around on the table as she ate some of her scrambled eggs.

"It's not that she doesn't _like_ her religion, it's more that she feels stifled by the way her community practices it. They schedule pretty much every aspect of her life, to the point that she once told me that she could tell you what she was going to be doing at any moment between now and the end of the semester. She loves the idea of watching sports, you know. If she was able to go to any of the events she'd cheer her head off for the team." Gerald nodded as he chewed on a big mouthful of sugar-laden cornflakes.

"Mm. Hey, that would mean she'd come to my basketball games, right? I guess if she could, she would. That'd be awesome, I wish Betsy would do that. It's like, she just doesn't find that stuff interesting at all. She'd rather talk about TV shows I don't watch and lately she's been real busy, always sitting with her friends at lunch instead of me and not really talking to me for very long. I know we have tests going on right now and all, maybe that's what's going on. She's probably just worried about those. I'm glad my algebra test isn't until _next_ Wednesday, because I'm still not looking forward to it. Thanks for the help, though – I'm no longer cowering in fear of it like I was before." Lydia thought that it probably wasn't tests that were the reason why Betsy seemed to be ignoring Gerald more. Better to tell him now then to have Betsy or somebody else he didn't know tell him...

"No problem. About Betsy, though... well, let me ask you this. Do you like her?" Gerald stopped midway through putting his spoon in his mouth and quickly put it back in the bowl.

"Yeah! What kind of question is that, of _course_ I- oh... you mean... _like_ like, don't you? U-Um. I... I guess I do. I thought she was cute, y'know? And it's like, now that I'm in high school, I can actually have a girlfriend, and I thought well, maybe she could be it. I'm trying to be nice, isn't that what you're _supposed_ to do? Like, I'm trying to invite her to do stuff and-"

"Slow down, Gerald. Okay, so you like her. Do you think she likes _you_ the same way?" Gerald thought for a moment about what he knew about Betsy. She didn't seem all _that_ interested in him, she'd listen well enough, but did that mean anything? She gave her friends more of her attention than she gave him, but she still stuck around, didn't she?

"I don't know. I mean, I hope she would, right? You're gonna tell me she doesn't, aren't you? Maaaaaaan!" He sank back in his chair and crossed his arms, shoving a spoonful of cornflakes in his mouth.

"But do you know _why_ she doesn't? It's not because she hates you or anything. From what you've told me, she's never been outright mean to anyone." Lydia said. Gerald shrugged and looked down at his cereal, unwilling to consider any of the reasons why Betsy wouldn't return his feelings.

"You already know that she doesn't really share your interests, and that you don't share hers. She probably feels like you're bothering her when you keep bringing up things that she's not really interested in. Maybe you should hang out more with your other friends and only see Betsy once in a while. And sometimes, there _is_ no reason why someone doesn't like you back other than 'They just don't.'" Gerald raised his eyebrows, stirring the milk in his cereal bowl.

"Uh huh... how would _you_ know that? Since when have you had a crush on anyone that wasn't some boy band pop star? I mean, sure, back home in Crystal Rapids there weren't exactly a lot of guys to look at, but-"

"That's enough, Gerald! If you don't believe what I'm telling you, then ask her yourself. Tell her you like her and if she doesn't return your feelings, then ask her why. She'll probably tell you the same thing I just did, but far less clearly! You shouldn't even be dating right now, anyway – remember, I'm the one who has to drive you places half the time. Do you really want your sister driving you and your girlfriend all over town? You don't want a chaperone on your dates, do you?" Gerald was surprised to see her get so worked up over this. In his mind, he saw the image of a pouting Lydia sitting in her car at the curb waiting for him as he stood in front of Betsy's door, hoping she'd come out, and cringed at the idea.

"Okay, I get it, you don't have to snap at me over it. No dating until I can drive, or whatever. And yeah, I guess now I want to know what she thinks of me. When I get a chance, I'll ask her." Lydia realized that she had overreacted and made the situation awkward, and decided not to say anything else until they had gotten to school.

"Well, see you later." Gerald said as he walked off towards the school building.

 _I didn't expect to get so riled up over that. Well, he'll probably forget I even snapped at him by the end of the day. His mind's focused on Betsy and exams. Hopefully he'll understand what I was trying to tell him._

Lydia walked into the hallway and found Damien waiting for her by the door, looking bored and checking out his phone. He noticed her come in and put his phone away.

"Hey. Was hoping I'd see you. Allie decided she wanted to go to that flagpole prayer thing, so I'm kinda stuck kicking it out here until Marshall's class starts. What's up?" Lydia pursed her lips and stood next to him, still thinking about what she'd said to Gerald.

"My brother likes a sophomore girl and was unknowingly bothering her by being really talkative. I talked to him about that before we left for school and I kinda snapped at him about him wanting to date her." Damien put his hands behind his head and looked at the ceiling, recalling the various times that his sisters wanted to date and their parents preventing it until they were at least sixteen. All but his next oldest sister found ways to date regardless, and Lin only listened to their parents because of all the heartbreak the others went through because they dated jerks.

"I don't know if snapping at him was the right thing to do there, but you do have a point in not really wanting him to date as a freshman. Except for Lin, all my sisters went under our parents' noses to date guys when they were about his age and it all worked out terribly for them. So do you think he's going to have to learn the hard way?"

"I told him to go tell the girl his feelings and see for himself what she thought of him. I'm pretty sure she won't feel the same way, which hopefully will give him some perspective. Though something tells me that being friendzoned won't really dissuade him from trying to get a girlfriend anyway."

"What do your parents think?" Damien asked. Gerald certainly had been just as talkative with their parents as he was with her, and perhaps they had come to a similar conclusion, but to her knowledge she was the only one that knew for a fact that he was currently interested in someone.

"About dating? Well, um... I doubt they would let him date at fourteen, either. I told him that since he can't drive yet, that someone would have to drive him places and that it would look really bad to have one of our parents or me waiting in the driveway or whatever as a chaperone." Damien laughed, remembering what had happened once each of his sisters had been found out.

"Yeah, yeah it would. Oh, man, when my parents found out that my sisters had secret boyfriends, they didn't exactly say 'Oh hell no, you can't see him anymore.' Well, okay, that's how they started with the oldest, Kira, but after a while they got creative and decided to do something different with Arielle by still letting him date the guy, since he wasn't that bad, but instead they forced her to take our dad with her on all of her dates as a chaperone. After that, it was pretty clear to Lin and I what was going to happen if we tried to sneak dates under their noses." Lydia didn't think her parents would be quite that proactive about it – she herself hadn't had any interest in dating, and given that there was a rapidly escalating problem on her hands that only QIB knew about, probably wouldn't even have the time.

"Gerald isn't the type to hide things from people, though. That also means he's terrible at keeping secrets, which also means I can never tell him about QIB's activities. I don't know if he'd believe me or not, but I can't imagine anything good coming out of him knowing about us or what we do." Damien nodded.

"Yeah. That's something I've been thinking about lately. We have this rival group to deal with in addition to the people disappearing into the valley, and who knows how much crazier things are going to get from here? So far we've been able to do what we need to without anyone getting suspicious, but how much longer are we going to be able to keep it up? What if one of us gets seriously injured and our healing spells won't cut it? I guess we make up some cover story, but... things are really getting serious now. I have no intention of slowing down, just let me make that clear. I'm ready to do whatever I have to in order to get to the bottom of this, it's just one of these days this whole business won't be a secret anymore." Lydia took in a deep breath and let it out as she considered his words. He certainly thought things through, which she supposed balanced his tendency to take risks. There was no telling what could happen if say, their families found out or the police.

"We have enough things to worry about right now. We'll deal with that when and if it happens. Right now, let's just focus on doing well on our tests and getting stronger so we can stand up to Sycophanta."

"Yeah. Hey, so you said we should get together to train this week, sometime before Friday. I think today's probably the best day for all of us, isn't it? Since we have kinda have a break today and Nathan said he was going to be done with one of his big tests today." Lydia considered her schedule for the rest of the month – both of the next football games were away games, which meant she would be even more unavailable than usual on Fridays since the dance team would accompany the football team to various places in and around Quartz.

"Sure, today works. Hopefully nothing _else_ happens while we're in there..."

 **Wednesday, Evening – Clear**

The group had managed to all meet up in the valley later that night. The first thing on everyone's mind was that F.Z. was wearing an actual dress, and not something made out of grass. Lydia explained to the group about how F.Z. could wear normal clothes without any issue.

"Not bad. Still wearing the quartz shoes, though. Actually, how can you stand to wear those? They're made out of rock, aren't they?" Damien asked. F.Z. frowned at him and shrugged.

"It never bothered me. Remember, I don't exactly have a normal body anymore, so stuff like whether or not my shoes are comfortable doesn't matter. And it's not like I'm walking on jagged pieces of quartz, either. I can make a quartz surface as smooth as glass, you know? Don't worry about it."

"I would have bought you something new, but that dress was sort of the only piece of clothing I kept from that time – all the rest was given away since I grew out of it – and I don't remember exactly what size it is. Let's worry about that later, though. We have training to do." Lydia said, looking towards the skyscraper they hadn't finished clearing yet.

"Yeah, you said there was a Shadow at the top that we need to get rid of, right?" Nathan asked, tilting his head upwards to try and see something.

"Yes. Let's go straight for it while we're fresh and then figure out what to do from there."

Working through the Shadows that stood in their way once they took the elevator to the floor immediately beneath the roof, the group came through the doors to the top of the skyscraper and found a quartz chrysalis resting in the middle of the area, about where Damien's Idol had originally been.

"Man, that's creepy. It's like when my Idol did that kind of thing before turning into a monster." Nathan said while everyone was still at a distance.

"I wonder why these Shadows appear like this after the Idol's been defeated. The last one we fought looked kinda like me, and it had a lot of Medusa's capabilities. That would mean that the Shadow inside _that_ chrysalis over there is going to look like Damien and use Ra's attacks." Allie said, considering if it was going to use attacks that Ra hadn't quite learned yet like the previous Shadow did by using Marmagna before Medusa had it.

"Well, Ra is strong against fire, so don't use that. He's weak to ice, so I guess Lydia can pull out whatever Persona she has that's got that. The only attack he has that can do something besides just raw damage is Hysterical Slap, which can cause an enemy to panic. So the copycat Shadow shouldn't be as annoying as the one from the warehouse, but it'll probably hit harder overall. Lydia, what do you think?"

"Sounds like you guys have got it worked out. If ice is the way to go, then I have the perfect Persona for it: Jack Frost, that little snowman fairy that I picked up when we were clearing the Shadows on the way up here. Let me crack open the chrysalis this time; everyone get ready to fight." The group held their mirrors at the ready as Lydia looked into her own and saw the happy smiling face of Jack Frost, who manifested from the blue flames that consumed the mirror.

" _Hee-ho! Let's get this party started!"_ He said, waving his arms and causing a cloud of ice shards to collapse upon the chrysalis. The shards cracked it, causing it to shudder and rock back and forth before a Shadow burst out of it, with a Fortune Arcana mask on its face and a body that looked similar to Damien's, except thinner and more rubbery.

"I'll start! Bufula!" Lydia had Jack Frost whirl in midair and clap his hands together, which caused an ice crystal to form around the Shadow and then shatter, immediately knocking it down and chilling it.

"Oh, this should be easy." Damien said, preparing a Double Shot from Ra as the rest of the group got in position to use a Fusion Spell.

The fight with the Shadow went by a lot more quickly now that they knew what to expect and how to deal with it; just as before, when it was defeated it turned back into quartz and crumbled to pieces on the ground, which the group gathered before leaving the skyscraper and returning to the hub. Lydia then went into the Velvet Room with the Shadow fragments to sell them to Victor, leaving the rest of QIB standing around with each other.

"So I wonder what it looks like in there. Uh, the Velvet Room, I mean." Nathan said. Damien shrugged and put his hands behind his head.

"Dunno. Maybe we should ask her when she gets out. I still don't get why she's the only one that gets to have all these extra powers. I think she told me it was because of Philemon, which makes me want to ask _him_ why only one person gets the power of the Beholder, but who knows how anyone's supposed to get ahold of him." F.Z. snorted and decided to address Damien.

"Sounds like you're a little jealous of her." Damien turned to look at her and decided to take a breath before speaking. He knew she was trying to get a rise out of him.

"No, it's just that we'd be a lot better off if we all could do the same things she could. She can have that Igor guy fuse Personas! Who knows how many cool new things she's going to get over the course of this whole ordeal? Sycophanta wouldn't stand a chance against us if we could adapt like she could." F.Z. raised her eyebrows at him, unconvinced.

"I think you're just mad you're not as badass as she is. I bet you wish this Philemon guy or whoever had given _you_ the power instead."

"Listen, can you two quit arguing with each other for once? I'm starting to get really annoyed by how you two refuse to get along.'" Allie cut in, alternating her gaze between the two.

"What exactly is y'all's problem, anyway? Sounds like it's been going on since before I arrived." Nathan said, curious. Damien sighed and looked over at him, trying to avoid F.Z.'s smirking smile.

"I don't know, really. F.Z. has some kind of beef with me that apparently started when I came to the valley for the first time. Something about me taking stupid risks, which I could've sworn was already explained to her." Lydia then returned from the Velvet Room with a stack of cash in her hand, which drew everyone's attention. It was apparent to everyone that she was trying to suppress a huge grin on her face.

"Well, um... so does anyone know what we're supposed to _do_ with $1,000?" She asked, spreading out the $50 bills to show everyone that she had indeed obtained that much money from Victor.

"Seriously? _That's_ how much that Shadow was worth? What the heck, man, who needs a job when you can just kill Shadows for the money?" Nathan said, going over to Lydia to see the bills.

"I know at least half of this will go to new clothes and enchantments, but... well, there's still another Shadow like this in Nathan's stadium, isn't there? That's probably worth even more. At this rate, we'll have more money than we can reasonably spend on QIB stuff." F.Z. shot a glance at Damien before talking.

"Hey, Damien, have you and Allie finished designing that accessory you guys said you were gonna work on?" He narrowed his eyes at her in his response, which was tempered and holding back some frustration.

"Yeah, we just did it a couple of days ago. It's a pin, the button kind. Kinda has a quartz background with the initials QIB on it. Allie even came up with the idea of making QIB ribbons, too, for the girls. Tell 'em about 'em, Allie." Allie let out a small, hushed breath before picking up where he left off.

"I thought that perhaps each of us girls could wear a ribbon in our hair with the initials, too. Since each of us have different hair lengths, we'd all wear a different style. I was going to ask the both of you which colors you wanted." Lydia was too distracted by the money she was holding to pick up on the subtle cues both Damien and Allie had given off. She put the money away in her pockets.

"Oh, if you're going to make ribbons, you should add our actual initials to them. That'll add a personal touch to each one. For me, I guess solid blue is good enough, since blue's my favorite color." F.Z. smiled at Lydia's suggestion, seeing as how her initials were the only thing anyone knew her by at the moment.

"I like that idea. Allie, get me something purple, like the color of this dress. Write my initials in red. I was actually going to ask you to get me something to tie my hair with, because seriously, I looked at myself in Lydia's mirror a couple of days ago and my hair is all over the place."

"Okay. I'll do that when I get back home, then. So... what are we going to do now? I'm still feeling pretty good. Should we go and clear out the Shadow from the stadium?"

"I vote yes. We ran over the Shadows in the skyscraper, and I barely broke a sweat. We can definitely handle the ones in the stadium, and I don't even think we have to rush it either. We can take our time wiping them all out before going onto the field to take the big one down." Nathan said, putting his fists together. Damien supposed that he'd just have to let F.Z.'s attitude slide for now; training was more important than whatever argument she wanted to have with him about his supposed jealousy towards Lydia.

"I'm fine with that. The more progress we can make, the better. Ra tells me we still need a good amount of work before his next move, Agilao, will be available. Let's do as much as we can while we're still here."

"Medusa's getting close to upgrading her petrification skill – she says Petravira has the power to petrify _all enemies_ , the same way Marmagna can target all enemies. We should go to the stadium and clear out as many Shadows as we can." Allie said, which as far as Lydia was concerned, settled the matter.

"Okay, then. Let's get going."

The crew spent what felt like the next hour going around the stadium, taking out wave after wave of Shadows. Lydia gathered enough Personas to the point where she was surprised to find that taking a new one meant forgetting one of her existing ones, and so decided to let go of the new one immediately, resolving to put the ones she had in the Compendium and use them for fusion as soon as possible. The group eventually came back to the point they started from, the doppelganger Shadow the only thing left for them to tackle. F.Z. materialized before them, having just returned from the entrance closest to the hub.

"There hasn't been anything happening on the outside, by the way. You guys seemed to have a handle on everything, so sometimes I'd leave and come back just to make sure what happened _last week_ doesn't happen again." She explained. Everyone else looked nervously at each other, the possibility of someone else being drawn in here like that _again_ not something they had stopped too much to think about since it was the middle of the week.

"Thanks for that, F.Z. We... don't really want to be caught off guard anymore." Lydia said, a look of worry on her face. Nathan turned his attention to one of the hallways leading to the football field.

"I think I've got enough juice for one more big fight. What do you say we go and take down that Shadow lookalike of me?" He said, putting his fists together again.

"Is everyone well enough to fight? Nathan, I think you said Tepeyollotl was weak against earth, right?" Lydia asked.

"Yeah. You uh, probably don't want to use any Personas weak to electricity or physical attacks, since that's what he uses. That Shadow will probably also be able to heal itself, too. Man, that's gonna be annoying."

"It'll be no sweat. We'll hit it so hard the healing won't be enough!" Damien slapped Nathan's back as he walked by, beginning to go down the hallway. F.Z. grinned and followed behind him.

"Let's take this thing down already!" Nathan smiled and jogged past them, wanting to be the first one to see it. Lydia and Allie brought up the rear, where Allie took a moment while F.Z. and Damien were out of earshot to speak to Lydia.

"Hey, while you were in the Velvet Room earlier... F.Z. and Damien sort of got into an argument about something." Lydia sighed. She left for a few minutes and those two were getting after each other? F.Z. didn't make any fuss towards Damien the whole time they had been wiping out Shadows in the stadium...

"About what?" She asked.

"Damien asked why you were the only one to have extra abilities. F.Z. took that to mean that he was jealous of you, and then Nathan asked what their problem was with each other. Damien started to explain what he thought F.Z.'s issue with him was until you returned from the Velvet Room, and then the both of them dropped it. I guess they didn't want to ruin your mood from all the money we got killing that Shadow." Lydia crossed her arms and watched F.Z. as she caught up to Nathan and shadowboxed beside him.

 _She's nice enough to me, but I guess that doesn't really mean much when it comes to how she treats everyone else. Is Damien really jealous of me? He **has** raised that question before, but I don't really have an answer for him that isn't something he hasn't heard already. I should talk to him about it privately after we're done here..._

"I'll have to talk to the both of them later. Right now, let's just deal with the Shadow."

On the football field, where Nathan's Idol had once transformed into a monstrous phalanx of football players, was a quartz chrysalis waiting at midfield. Nathan noticed that it was as tall as he was, confirming for him that what was inside was a Shadow copy of him.

"Uh, since the Shadow inside is weak to earth, Allie should probably crack this thing open." He said, turning his head to look at her. She nodded and summoned Medusa, who launched a boulder at the chrysalis and cracked it, yielding a Shadow with Nathan's body shape and hairstyle, along with a Chariot Arcana mask covering its face.

"Nathan, stick to healing! We'll take care of the offensive." Lydia called out as they began to fight the Shadow. Allie led off by knocking the Shadow down with a round of Magna, allowing the team to immediately get off a Fusion Spell just the same way as they did before.

To Nathan it was almost boring, how their coordination and planning had allowed them to take down that Shadow. He did exactly as he was told and healed everyone when the Shadow inevitably got back on its feet and tried to attack with Mazionga or Blade of Fury, both techniques that his Persona informed him were to be his eventually. While it was creepy how it seemed to hiss and act like a wild animal with far more than the average Shadow, there wasn't much else in his opinion that was notable about it, besides it being something of a boss-level Shadow and the valuable fragments it left behind once it was defeated.

"Oh, man. Lydia, why can't we use all this money for something besides QIB stuff? Seriously, what are a bunch of teenagers going to do with _two grand?_ " Nathan said as Lydia finished counting out the money she had gotten from Victor after turning in the fragments on a circular quartz table that F.Z. had made. They were all sitting at the table on quartz chairs, Damien and F.Z. opposite each other and Nathan sitting next to Lydia.

"Well... I mean, money just doesn't appear out of nowhere in the real world. We can get away with buying clothes every once in a while without our parents asking too many questions, but if you were to suddenly make a big purchase, wouldn't _someone_ ask you where the money came from? None of us have jobs or anything that would explain why we'd have a source of income." Lydia began to split the money amongst the group, such that everyone got about 20% of the earnings and she kept 40% for herself.

"Man! I would've used some of this to go to a professional football game, or something! Get a big tailgate going, stuff like that... you're telling me I can't even use this to buy a jersey, or something?" He asked her.

"Well, I mean, you earned the money, Nathan. Everyone did their part in taking down the Shadow. I can't _really_ stop you from spending it however you want, but... just think about how it's going to affect the group. We need _everyone_ if we want to be able to stand up to Sycophanta and to keep saving people from their Idols. Save the money for college or something! The textbooks in college aren't really getting any cheaper, and every little bit helps."

"Personally, I'm thinking about FantasyFlare next month. This kind of money will _easily_ pay for hotels, admission, and whatever I want to buy." Allie perked up, and looked down at the $400 that she now held. Damien was definitely right about that – and this was considering that they had already set aside money and time to go next month.

"FantasyFlare, what's that?" Nathan asked. Allie decided to explain it to him and the rest of the group.

"It's a convention taking place in Houston next month. Basically the fans of any sci-fi or fantasy franchise you can think of show up, there's a ton of cosplays, a lot of people from various TV shows and video games show up to do panels and interviews, and there's a bunch of vendors that sell their art and stuff. Damien and I had already planned on going to it long before we met any of you. He's right, we won't even need to beg Lin for the money anymore." Damien smirked.

"I wouldn't say _beg_. Lin was going to go with or without us, now she can eat up as many volumes of shoujo as she wants since we've got our own cash. Hey, Lydia, Nathan, if you guys want to come with us when the time rolls around, you're more than welcome. We haven't made any reservations yet, but we're going to soon, so I guess let us know by the end of next week."

"How are you two going to explain to Damien's sister where you got the money to pay your own way, though? What can you tell her that she'll actually believe?" Lydia asked, putting her share of the money away. F.Z. seemed disinterested in the conversation, since not being able to leave the valley and being a ghost meant that she had no use for money. Damien shrugged.

"I'll give her money for lottery tickets or something and say I hit it big. She'll probably end up taking some of it because she'll have to buy them and not me, but whatever. Don't worry about it, Lydia, we'll be _fine._ That's another thing... would it really be the end of the world if she knew what we got up to? I know your brother would blab to everybody and try to get here by himself, but Lin's an adult. She's got a good head on her shoulders, and she knows how to keep a secret. Hell, she might even want to _join us._ The process would suck, yeah, but think about it – we'd be on top of the Idol busting for sure if we sent someone in there ourselves. It worked for me, remember? Who's to say it won't work for her, too?" F.Z. raised her eyebrows and scoffed, standing up and chucking a piece of quartz at Damien's head. It ricocheted off of his face, and he stood up and put his hands on the table.

"What is your _problem?_ Can you _quit_ trying to piss me off?!" F.Z. put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"How the hell do you think you can just _bring people in here_ like that? You were stupid enough to do it to yourself, but now you want to get your sister involved? You want to put her life on the line just so we can have the edge. What if she doesn't _want_ to join us, asshole? What if Sycophanta catches onto what we're doing, pops up when we're weak, and finishes us off? Do you actually _think_ about anything you do before you do it?"

"Do _you?_ You run off half-cocked without even telling anyone what you're about to do!"

"That is _enough!_ Both of you, _shut up!_ " Lydia shouted over them, which silenced everyone and drew different reactions from Damien and F.Z.: he was startled to hear her raise her voice, and she looked at the ground, crossed her arms, and pouted.

"Now, _listen._ We have more _urgent things_ that don't involve the two of you _bickering_ with each other! At the end of this week someone new is going to be drawn in here, and we need to all be on _speaking terms_ with each other if we don't want our enemies to _win!_ Damien, we can talk about your sister later. F.Z., yes, it was dangerous and very risky, but Damien only went through with it because he trusted me and Allie with his life. In any case... we are _done_ for today. All of you go home and get some rest." Nathan and Allie stood up without saying a word, and F.Z. dismissively waved her hand to disintegrate the table and the chairs before opening a portal. Damien was the first one to approach her and the portal, and he turned to make eye contact with her.

"I wouldn't make Lin do anything she didn't want to. Maybe you should listen more before you start running your mouth." F.Z. tensed up, about to talk back to him, but noticed Lydia staring at her and bit her tongue.

"Get out of here." She said to him, and he walked through the portal. Nathan came over to her with a puzzled expression, feeling awkward about what had just happened.

"Uh... I guess I'll see you around, F.Z."

"Yeah, see you later." He left through the portal. Allie looked between Lydia and F.Z. and wondered what the group's leader was probably going to say to her once she had left; clearly Lydia's influence was putting a lid on F.Z.'s temper and sharp tongue. It then occurred to her that Lydia was like Omar from the eSports team – the only person capable of keeping tabs on the mouthy, opinionated member of the group. Who knows what would happen if she was suddenly taken out of the picture...

"Hey, F.Z. I've known Damien since I was a little kid. He does some crazy things sometimes... but he's not stupid, I promise. He really does care for his family and he wouldn't put them in danger. If he _does_ tell Lin about the valley, he'll respect her wishes if she doesn't want to get involved. Try to cut him some slack, okay?" F.Z. twitched her nose.

"We'll see. Get going, you've got ribbons to make." Allie nodded, and went through the portal. As soon as she left, Lydia went over to F.Z. and put a hand on her shoulder, looking her in the eyes as she stood inches from the moving zebra stripes of the portal. She opened her mouth to say something, but F.Z. spoke first.

"Before you start with me, let me explain. Okay?" F.Z. said. Lydia closed her mouth and stood silent, waiting. F.Z. let out a breath and tried to maintain eye contact with Lydia, finding that upset Lydia was a lot easier to handle than friendly buddy-buddy Lydia.

"I didn't have a say in what happened to me. I got thrown in here without asking for it, and I paid for it with my life. I think it's... ridiculous, that anyone would willingly want to face their Idol like he did, and even worse that someone would intentionally want to convince another person to do it. I heard what you said, that he trusted you with his life... I didn't have anybody I could trust next to me when I faced my Idol. So don't get mad at me for being upset with him, okay?" Lydia's expression softened, though she still remained focused.

"Honestly, I don't really like the idea either. Thing is, everyone we've saved so far has come out better for it. If Damien really wants to tell his sister about what's going on here, I won't stop him from doing so. If she believes him, and actually does want to join us... well, that doesn't necessarily mean she has to meet her Idol and get a Persona. There might be another way she could help us. But if Lin is willing to face that part of herself the way Damien did, she's going to need our support. You don't have to agree with it, F.Z., I'm not asking you to change what you believe. I just want you to... try and understand where he's coming from. You don't have to be best friends with the guy, I just want the both of you to get along. Can I count on you to do that?"

F.Z. let her words sink in, the possibilities she had presented to her seeping into her mind. If facing one's Idol could be considered a good thing for oneself besides getting a Persona, then perhaps there _was_ some merit to Damien's way of thinking. She still found it distasteful, her own inner voice expressing its disapproval of Lin coming over here of her own volition.

"I still don't like what he's doing. But... I guess if getting his sister involved really _is_ going to help us out, then I'll put up with it. And with him. Just don't expect me to get all buddy-buddy with him. We might share the same goals, but that doesn't make us friends." Lydia nodded, acknowledging her acquiescence.

"Thanks. We're all trying our best here. The more we can work together, the better our efforts will be. Oh, and before I leave... could you let me see the size in the back of that dress? That way I can look for things that'll fit you."

"Yeah, sure." F.Z. turned around and let Lydia read the size imprinted in the fabric.

"Got it. We'll be back soon enough. See you later, F.Z."

"Don't keep me waiting too long. I want to see what other fashion ideas you have in store for me." Lydia smiled, nodding at the younger girl before going through the portal.

 _She's starting to become like a younger sister to me, what with the playing dress-up. There has to be a way to get her out of that place. Whatever it is, I'll find it. She deserves to see the real world once again. And as for Damien's idea of recruiting another person to join our group... we'll just have to take that one case at a time._

* * *

 **A/N: SakuraDreamerz - I see! Thanks for the response. And yes, there is a reason for F.Z. not remembering what tests were like for her. I do what I can to hint at future plot or character developments, so if something sounds like it could be relevant later, it very well might be.**

 **In other news... long update is long, but I didn't want to split this one since it wasn't pushing 8k. If you're curious as to where the two-chapter updates come from, those happen when a single chapter gets too long for my liking (usually if a single chapter exceeds 8,000 words, I'll split it). I realize that really long individual chapters can be tiring to read through, so I aim for any given chapter length to be between 3,000-5,000 words. It's not a strict rule, though, as I'm sure you've seen if you've gotten this far. Anyways, as of this update, this story has officially broken the 100,000 word mark, so it should now show up when you apply that particular length filter. Yay!**


	25. Chapter 23

**September 25, 2015 – Friday, Early Morning – Cloudy**

"Autumn is finally here... so why hasn't it gotten any cooler?" Lydia asked as she stepped out of the house with Gerald to go to school. Technically, the season had started two days ago, but she hadn't really noticed since QIB was training and she had had tests to deal with. She opened the car doors and got inside.

"I think the weatherman said we were gonna get a cold front next week. Yeah, this place is definitely something I've had to get used to – it's always hot even though the temperatures are like, lower compared to back home. How is that even possible? I also sweat a lot quicker than I used to, too – which means after enough drills at basketball practice, I'm totally soaked. Sure, we have the showers to get rid of that stuff, but man. What the heck is up with east Texas?" Gerald said, getting in the passenger seat and closing the door.

"I asked dad about it the other day, and he told me it was the humidity – all the water in the air makes the heat far less tolerable than it usually is. I mean, think about it: we're a lot closer to the sea than we were back home, and the wind is blowing all that water towards us." She started the car and pulled out of the driveway, Gerald frowning at the explanation as to why the weather was the way it was in Quartz.

"At least we can visit the beach now. Can't believe we gotta wait until March to even have a chance, though. Hey, though, I talked to Betsy yesterday – about what you told me to do... and well... she _doesn't_ like me that way." He stopped talking. Lydia glanced at him and saw that the frown on his face was reminiscent of the previous times he'd admitted to telling girls his feelings. Usually, however, he'd at least go on for a bit longer, questioning why the girl didn't like him back.

"What did she tell you?" She asked. Gerald rolled his eyes, slouched in the seat, and laid his head back on the headrest.

"That she only thought of me as a friend, and that she would rather spend more time with her other friends. I asked her, 'Why, aren't you having fun talking to me?' and she sort of made this expression where she drew her lips into her mouth and kinda looked down and away from me, like she didn't want to say what she was about to say... which was 'I just don't feel like we have anything in common, I like hanging out with my friends more.' So that happened, and I still kinda feel like crap about it." Lydia took the time from stopping at the traffic light to get a better look at him. He was still staring at the ceiling of the car, looking at her and sighing.

"You were right, okay? I hope you're happy now, you don't have to worry about me dating anytime soon."

"I didn't... Gerald, I wasn't looking _forward_ to it. I didn't tell you what I did because I wanted to see you suffer, I was just trying to help you understand what was going on." Gerald sat up straight.

"Yeah, I guess so. I mean, it's not like you ever talked to her to anything. Man, though. What am I gonna do now? How am I supposed to get a girlfriend?" Lydia noticed the traffic light turn green and moved forward again.

"Don't try so hard. You're a natural friend, and you can't really be _more than friends_ without being friends first. Don't rush into things. Just let them happen... naturally."

"Just take it naturally, huh? Okay. Hey, how would you know this stuff? It's not like _you've_ ever had a boyfriend." Lydia cringed at his statement, narrowing her eyes at him. He raised his shoulders in surprise.

"What?"

"Go ask mom or dad about it sometime. They know a lot about stuff like that."

 **Friday, Morning – Cloudy**

Walking down the hall with Damien and Allie, Lydia noticed that there was a girl in crutches with wavy brown hair talking to a familiar-looking guy with spotty facial hair leaning against the wall.

"Yeah, I heard it was gonna suck. They're always rebooting crap these days since no one seems to be able to come up with new ideas anymore." The guy said, looking at Lydia as she walked by and poked his companion in the shoulder. Lydia slowed down, wondering why this moderately tall guy with short brown hair was familiar to her even though she knew she hadn't seen him before.

"What? What are you poking me for?" The girl with the wavy brown hair asked.

"I told you, they _do_ go here! Hey, you! In the red shirt!" Lydia stopped, realizing that the guy was pointing at her. The girl turned herself with her crutches to face her and revealed yet another familiar-looking face, her face looking very much like the Lynne that had summoned a deadly Persona to show her dominance over QIB... but this girl was clearly younger and looked far more average compared to Lynne's supermodel looks.

"C'mere! You _and_ your friends." Damien and Allie looked at each other and wondered what was up with this guy they hadn't really noticed before calling them out.

"What is it? Who are you?" Damien asked. The guy smiled, looking between all three of them before turning to face his companion.

"Yeah, this is them alright. _These_ are those Persona-users you and Rosalia wiped the floor with last week." The girl nodded, not surprised by her friend's revelation. Damien and Allie stared at the both of them, speechless at how casually this guy dropped the fact of what had happened in the valley.

"Well, what do you know? We go to the same school. I guess since Corbin went and spilled the beans, there's no point in playing around. I'm Lynne. I don't think you guys introduced yourselves the last time we met." Lydia now felt a storm of questions begin to brew in her mind: where did these two get their Personas from? How could they look so different in the real world compared to within the valley? _Why_ were they so powerful? Did either of them have the ability to possess multiple Personas, like her?

"I'm Lydia. This is Damien and Allie. Um... are you two really... Sycophanta?" Lydia asked, still not entirely convinced these two were the same Lynne and Corbin.

"The one and the _same._ Hey, you guys are gonna get lucky this week. Lynne the Lumbering here went and sprained her ankle helping her dad put in a new roof on their house, which means she's totally out of it for the next round of Catch the Idol. And while I _would_ deal with your group myself, the valley is gathering power for something big, which means no new visitors this week. No point in going over there." Damien glared at him.

"Yeah, like I'm gonna believe _you_ telling us there's nothing going on. And while Lynne's pretty clearly injured, who's to say that stuff doesn't wear off when she goes into the valley? You both transform when you're in there."

"What about Valerie? Weren't you guys trying to recruit her? We don't even know if she's already gotten her Persona, which means you _wouldn't_ be alone in there." Allie added, making Corbin shrug with a grin on his face.

"Hey, Valerie will be ready when she's ready. That's not for us to decide. Lynne, I gotta get going to class. You gonna be alright?" She seemed annoyed at the question and reoriented herself with her crutches.

"Yes, I'll be fine. I'm not _that_ crippled. Now go to class before Salazar rips you a new one for being late again." Corbin rolled his eyes and chuckled as he walked off.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Lydia! I'm sure we'll meet again soon enough... you better be ready."

"Hold on, you're not just gonna walk away like that. You're gonna answer my questions..." Damien followed him, Allie watching as the two of them began to get into a barrage of questions and no answers as they walked down the hall, briefly drawing the attention of the other students that were passing by.

"I should make sure they don't get into a fist fight. Lydia, are you coming with me?" Allie asked.

"No, go on ahead without me. I want to talk to Lynne about something." Allie nodded and quickly walked away, hoping to catch the two boys before they drew any more attention to themselves. Lynne raised an eyebrow at what had just happened and shifted herself forward on her crutches, moving in the opposite direction from the one the others had just went down.

"I thought I recognized you. You're on the dance team, aren't you?" Lynne said as she hobbled along.

"Yeah. What did you... mean when you said all of those things about how you got your Persona? Do _you_ know what's going on with the valley?" Lynne took in a breath and kept her eyes forward.

"I already told you a good amount about what I know and what I intend to do. ...and I meant what I said about what would happen if your group continued to oppose us." Instead of trying to look threatening as Lydia would have expected from what was essentially a death threat, Lynne looked disappointed and almost sad, as if she didn't really want to go through with it.

"I don't really know exactly what's going on. All I know is that Corbin and myself were given this power for a purpose – and that purpose, as far as I know right now, is to bring that power to as many people as we can. I know how dangerous and scary it is to go through; remember, the both of us were pulled into the valley with no clue as to what was going on and had to face our Idols just like your friends – and we had to stumble out of the woods on top of that! That's why we go into the valley, to make sure the people that get drawn into it make it out safe, just like you." Lydia was unsure what to make of this girl now that she had spoken so earnestly about her side of the story. There had to be some kind of catch that Lynne either wasn't aware of or refused to acknowledge.

"You don't think something bad might happen if you keep helping out the Idols? And you _really_ don't look like you want to fulfill that promise Rosalia made, either." Lynne sighed.

"You're really attentive, aren't you? I'll have to remember that. Listen, my class is right over here. You were walking the other way when Corbin called you out – you'll probably be late if you don't hurry. I know we still have a lot to talk about, so... give me your phone. I'll put my number in it and you can text or call me after school. We don't have to be _enemies,_ Lydia. Okay?" Lydia silently took out her phone, meeting Lynne's deep brown eyes and finding that she was sincere in her sentiments.

 _She and Corbin were so different in the valley; they acted all theatrical, like they were playing some kind of role and had to act the part. Here in the real world, they act... more real, like normal people. Is that because of their Idol transformations? Do they actually become **different people** when they do that?_

"Okay. You're right – I would rather not be enemies, either." She gave her phone to her. Lynne quickly put in her info and gave Lydia her phone back, revealing that her full name was Lynne Magdalene Faire, or just Lynne as the "preferred name" field stated.

Lydia was startled to hear the sound of shattering glass. The world around her stopped moving once more as yet another tarot card appeared before her, turning around to reveal an image she hadn't seen before when she looked up the Arcana: a woman laying on her back, being suspended above what seemed to be the multiple heads of the mythological Hydra. Above the woman appeared to be some kind of magic lamp with tendrils surrounding it, and at the bottom of the card was a partially faded Roman numeral for eleven.

 **Thou art I... and I am thou...**

 **Thou hast established a new bond...**

 **In thee, the Beholder's sight grows ever clearer...**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Hunger Arcana...**

 _The... Hunger Arcana? I don't remember **that** being part of the Major Arcana I read about. I guess Victor was right when he said that I might come across Arcana outside of the normal ones, and given who this Social Link seems to be with, the Arcana being an unusual one makes perfect sense to me._

The tarot card faded, and time resumed. Lynne seemed to have not noticed that anything had happened, and kept speaking.

"My lineage is both English and Catholic. That's why my name sounds like something out of a fantasy tale. Also... Corbin wasn't lying. This week will not have anybody new within the valley. Believe it or don't, it's up to you. We'll talk later, Lydia." Lynne turned around and went into the nearest classroom.

"Yeah. We certainly will."

 **Friday, Evening – Cloudy**

The football game tonight was at one of the other high schools in Quartz; all of QIB had gone to the game, doing the same thing they had did last week, but with one major difference owing to the fact that they were at a different school – they didn't have an easy way to get into the valley if they suddenly needed to. Lydia had told the rest of the group about her talk with Lynne and how she and Corbin had told them there wasn't going to be anyone disappearing this week, and Damien had told everyone about how unsuccessful he was at getting anything useful out of him.

"He's an ass. A hypocrite, too. Remember how he said teenagers aren't good for anything but flights of fancy? That guy goes to the same school we do! Where does he get off saying stuff like that?" He had said. The group had talked it over and Nathan had stopped by the valley to inform F.Z. of the situation before going to the game.

"Yeah, uh, she's going to _really_ be on guard this time. I told her we were going to stop by tomorrow morning if nothing happened tonight." Nathan had said shortly after the game started, when Lydia was able to be there for the conversation. She spent the game talking to Allie, watching the Falcons play, and keeping Tori updated on the game's progress every few minutes. Disappointingly, Lynne hadn't responded to her texts asking about how she and Corbin knew what was going to happen in the valley. As the game reached the fourth quarter, everyone had relaxed somewhat knowing that no one had disappeared at the game. The Falcons had won by a single field goal coming out towards the end, the final score being 24-21.

 _For what it's worth, at least nothing unusual happened tonight. Guess that means we'll have to be ready to go tomorrow..._

 **September 26, 2015 – Saturday, Morning – Cloudy**

Lydia had gathered everyone's newest round of clothes for the upcoming excursion into the valley and took them with her into the Velvet Room, where Igor and Victor were waiting for her as usual. She hadn't stopped to consider Persona fusions after receiving _all_ the money from Victor, who seemed amused at the fact that it was considered a lot for a teenager to have.

"Welcome back. It looks like you have quite a few new enchantment requests for me." Victor said, noticing the multiple bags of clothes. Lydia put them beside the guest's chair and sat down across from Igor, calling forth her Persona cards and putting them on the table.

"First, let's register all of these Personas. Then, let me see what I can fuse next, please." Igor nodded, and Lydia watched as all ten cards were absorbed by the large tome, quickly displaying their images on its pages. Igor then opened the Compendium back to the beginning to show her the available Personas based on the ones she had – which were quite a few, since she was at her limit of ten. What stood out the most to her was Power, of the Justice Arcana – it looked like it would use up Senri and Ara Mitama. Underneath Power was Hua Po, of the Magician Arcana, requiring Ophelia and Fortuna. The third Persona listed for her would be the result of what Igor had referred to as a Triangle Spread fusion: Ares, of the Chariot Arcana that would require Anzu, Forneus, and Obariyon.

That had already been seven Personas out of the ten she had, and Ophelia would always be called back from the Compendium if she was used for fusion.

"That looks really good. Igor, I'd like the first three Personas on that list." He nodded, and performed the fusions one after another, each new Persona introducing itself to her in its own unique way – Power proclaiming victory was theirs, Hua Po being bubbly and kind, and Ares stating that their enemies would yield to their strength. Once she had obtained each new Persona, Igor folded his hands together and spoke to Lydia.

"It looks like you have garnered an understanding of the power your Social Links are giving you. I do believe that the stronger your Social Links become, not only will the Personas you fuse be granted additional strength, the power of the Beholder within you will also flourish as well." He paused briefly before looking over at the Compendium, the pages having updated to reflect Lydia's new stock of available Personas.

"Would you like to continue fusing?" He asked. Lydia looked down at the new cards she had obtained. There _were_ still a couple of unused Personas on the table next to them... but since they were both from the same Arcana, trying to fuse them together would only yield a much weaker Persona than the ones she currently had.

"No, that's enough for now. Victor, now that I have some new Personas, let's see which ones go best with each set of clothing." She rose out of the seat and went over to where Victor did his enchantments. She decided that Hua Po would be best for herself and Allie, while Power would go to Damien and Ares to Nathan and F.Z.

"Very good. Now, let's see here..." He drew out the respective Persona cards and began to infuse their power into the clothing laid before him.

"I suppose while you are here, I should tell you that I have been cleared to leave this Velvet Room on occasion. Enough time has passed that I have been allowed passage into your world; however, according to the rules set upon me, I may only venture into your world if you are accompanying me." Lydia raised her eyebrows at his message, wondering what the intent was behind that. He finished the first enchantment and paused to make eye contact with her before starting the second.

"I'd very much like to see your world sometime. I've heard it's full of interesting things – like the recreational activity where the skin of a pig molded into an oblong shape is tossed back and forth across a field of grass." Victor spoke without missing a beat. Lydia tried to hold back her reaction to that, but found that she couldn't stop laughing at the words he used to describe football.

"Is something wrong? Is that not one of the things people do in your world?" He asked. Lydia stopped laughing and caught her breath.

"Oh my gosh. You're right, Victor. That _is_ something we do – but it has a _name_ : football."

"I see. Football. Perhaps you can take me to see some of this football, then. Whenever is most convenient for you, of course. Anyways, let me continue these enchantments." He did the rest of the enchantments and gave the clothes back to Lydia.

"One question before I go: when I first got the key to this place, I was told that there would be more than one door back in the real world. I haven't actually _seen_ a second door yet. Is that something you all are working on, or... what's going on?" Victor looked to Igor for the answer. Igor closed his eyes, not breaking his grin except to speak.

"I am certain it will present itself to you when you are truly in need of it."

 _I suppose I haven't really had any opportunity to go to the Velvet Room while at school. Where would it even make sense to put a door? Sure, I might be the only one who can see it, but it's not like there could be one out in the open where people could see me disappear into thin air. Well, he's got a point. I'm sure it'll turn up sooner or later._

"Okay. Thank you, Igor. Victor, I'll think about your offer. See you both later." Victor bowed to her.

"We look forward to seeing you again."

* * *

 **A/N: Fun fact for posterity - this update was originally posted on August 13, 2015. Two days before that, this site experienced some notable problems regarding filters, causing all the sections to appear empty.**


	26. Chapter 24

**September 26, 2015 – Saturday, Morning – Cloudy**

After her business in the Velvet Room was done, she went over to Damien's house, where an unexpected guest was waiting for her alongside the rest of the crew: a young Asian woman as tall as she was, with a pair of brown horn-rimmed glasses and her hair in a ponytail. She wore a white sleeveless shirt, gray shorts, and a pair of pink ankle socks instead of shoes.

"Oh, she's here... you must be Lydia. I'm Lin, Damien's older sister. Now I know what you're thinking: how can someone who looks like _me_ be the sister of someone who looks like _him?_ Sorry if this sounds like I'm insulting your intelligence, but our parents adopted me when I was just two years old. After Arielle was born, they started having problems with infertility; since they thought that might've meant they couldn't have children anymore, they looked into other ways of having them – so one thing led to another, and now I'm here. Of course, the fact that _Damien_ exists tells you what became of _that_ issue, right? Anyways. I wanted to wait until all of his friends were here before telling you all why _I'm_ here, so take a seat and I'll tell you what's up." Lydia handed everyone their newly enchanted clothes, an action that Lin noted by adjusting her glasses. She sat down on the left side of the couch next to Allie and watched as Lin picked up Damien's sun-shaped mirror from the table. She went on and began to recount the entire story as her brother had told it to her, going on for several minutes before coming around to her point.

"...which leads me to why I'm here today. Damien told me that he willingly let himself be taken into the Valley of Idols because of what happened to Allie – an action that I understood, but have no interest in replicating myself." She gave the mirror back to Damien, who had a disappointed expression on his face as she adjusted her glasses again and turned her attention to the rest of the group.

"I don't want to join QIB. You guys might do some good work, but... I don't think facing my Idol is something I want to go through. It's not that I don't trust you all – you guys saved my brother and _he_ thought you all were worth trusting. It's... well, honestly, I don't want the responsibility that you guys have. You all are the only ones doing anything to prevent people ending up in the woods and Narcissus Syndrome, but every time you go into that valley, there's a chance you might not come out. From what I understand, there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to who the valley takes, only that it does so on a predictable timeframe. So if it ends up taking me regardless, well... I might change my mind. But as of right now, I'm not going to become one of you." Lin went over and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, opening it and drinking it as the high school students mulled over her words to them.

"You're still going to keep our secret, right?" Damien asked. Lin put down her bottle of water on the counter next to the kitchen.

"Well, yeah. I already told _you_ that, but I guess you wanted your friends to hear it too. I mean, it's not as hard of a secret to keep as you think. I don't think anyone would believe that story without proof – they'd just think you're making stuff up. Sure, the mirrors you all have hint towards the truth, but in the real world, they're just ordinary mirrors. I guess if someone was considering the possibility that something unnatural was afoot, they'd look more into it, but you guys have been pretty good at keeping things under wraps so far." The comment about the mirrors being ordinary in the real world raised a question in Lydia's mind: _were they_ just ordinary mirrors, incapable of doing anything special? No one had seemingly ever tried to summon their Persona in the real world, probably because there wasn't any reason to do so.

"Ordinary mirrors..." Lydia mumbled. She put her mirror in front of her and tried to think of Hua Po, who would be small enough to fit in the room without breaking anything. She felt her stirring within her mind, and was surprised to see her appear in the mirror in place of her own reflection.

" _Hi! Is it time to fight already?"_ Hua Po spoke within her mind. The others had their attention turned to Lin.

 _No, I was just... trying to see if I could see you in this world. If I can do that, then maybe Personas **can** be summoned in this world, too. And if that's possible, then maybe that also means... we'd have to **fight** in our world sooner or later. I have to know that._

"I can see where you're coming from. I don't know if I would've been eager to get into this whole business if uh, the business didn't get into me first." Nathan said, eyeing his mirror. Allie shifted in her seat and spoke.

"As for me... I guess if I had somehow known what was going to happen to me before I made Lydia help me test out the mirrors in the girls' bathroom at school, I'd probably have had second thoughts, too. Still, it's not like anyone else had thought of my idea – that people with Narcissus Syndrome always being drawn to their own reflection might've had something to do with how they were taken away." Allie turned her attention to Lydia and saw that she had a different expression while staring into her mirror.

"What is it, Lydia? I think what Lin was saying made sense, right?" Lydia blinked, Hua Po's visage reverting back to her own.

"Um, about not joining the group? Sure, I understand it. I didn't think other people would be lining up in front of a mirror and come face-to-face with their Idols just so they could join us. Damien was probably the only person to do something like that. You're probably also wondering if there _is_ any way you can help us, Lin, since you're understandably worried about us going in and out of the valley. I can't think of anything off of the top of my head except to be on the lookout for anybody who looks like they could be really stressed about something, and to let us know as soon as you can if a disappearance happens. We had planned on going into the valley today, since a disappearance is supposed to happen this week and this is certainly the day it's going to take place." She stood up from the couch and raised her mirror in front of her like she was going to summon a Persona.

"But before we do that, there's just one thing I want to try." Lin tilted her head in curiosity as the other Persona-users were beginning to get an idea of what Lydia was about to do. Nathan was the first to respond, and got out of his seat to move behind the counter where Lin had set her water bottle.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. You're gonna call a Persona _right here?_ What if you catch something on fire? Our Personas are way too big to fit in a house like this!" He said as he scurried away. Allie and Damien also stood up and backed away.

"Hold on, Lydia, why are you doing this? If it's to show Lin what a Persona looks like, I've already told her about everyone's Personas!" Damien said. Lydia moved to the most open spot in the living room, where there was several feet of nothing but floor surrounding her. She gripped her mirror in her right hand and took a firm stance where she stood.

"One of the new Personas I obtained from the Velvet Room is real small. She's only a couple feet tall, and someone might see us if I do this outside. I just have to _know,_ one of these days we might actually have to fight in the real world! I promise I won't damage anything. Let me do this, okay?" The Hall siblings' eyes met, Damien's full of nervousness and apprehension while Lin's reflected curiosity tinged with a touch of fear.

"It's not going to... be hostile or anything, is it? Your Persona?" Lin asked. Lydia shook her head.

"Hua Po is very kind. She wouldn't hurt a fly unless I asked her to. I only need to see this once, okay? I won't make a habit of it, I just need to know whether or not this is possible."

"Alright. Go ahead. You have a point. I think it's something we're all wondering, anyway." Damien relaxed, remembering that he had once asked her to do a lot more for him without much of a reward.

"Thanks." Lydia turned her attention back to her mirror and focused, seeing Hua Po in it instead of herself after a few seconds.

" _I don't need you to fight right now. I just want you to meet my friends. Be careful, though. We don't want to damage anything in their house."_

" _Okay! Sure, I'll be as careful as can be!"_ Lydia took a deep breath and focused on bringing her out of the mirror. The flow of energy that was normally quick and unobstructed felt like it was trying to work its way through a ton of thick vines now, meaning that Lydia had to keep staring into the mirror for several seconds before a tinge of blue flame appeared on the mirror.

"That's weird. It's usually a lot quicker than this." Damien mumbled to Lin as everyone watched Lydia try to summon her Persona. Lin watched in awed silence as blue fire slowly began to consume the white-bordered mirror with the fancy design that Lydia held, without harming her whatsoever as it did so. Once the flame had completely consumed the mirror, Lydia let out a heavy breath as a pixie-like young woman with red skin and tied-up black hair appeared before everyone, wearing a white jacket and fluttering about on transparent red wings.

" _Wow, so this is your world, huh? And this is where one of your friends lives... hi, Damien!"_ Hua Po flew over towards Damien, waving at him.

"Uh... hi. What's your name?"

" _Hua Po! It's nice to meet you!"_

Lin scratched her head, took off her glasses, breathed on them, and wiped them clean before putting them back on to make sure she was seeing this properly. Indeed, there was a red-skinned pixie with a perky attitude and some kind of white martial arts clothing flying around and greeting everyone. Hua Po came over to her and asked her name after she had gotten the names of everyone else.

"My name is Lin. So... you're a Persona. You're really an aspect of Lydia's soul? That's... pretty cool, I have to say."

" _Thanks! You know, it's really something living with all those other Personas. I mean-"_ Hua Po suddenly faded before Lin's eyes. Lydia's mirror reformed in her hand, and she looked down at it, disappointed and panting.

"That's... enough. Our Personas... can only be active for so long at a time. We have to summon them the way you just saw every time we take an action. It's... a lot faster and a lot less strenuous in the valley than it is in the real world, though." She explained to Lin.

"I see. Well... I guess if I had any lingering doubt, it's completely gone now. All of you can do that? Just like she did?" Lin asked. The others answered affirmatively to the question, with Allie telling her about what set Lydia apart from the rest.

"Lydia's unique in that she can have multiple Personas and switch between them whenever she wants. Normally she uses Ophelia, the first Persona she obtained, but she's around seven feet tall, so it wouldn't have been as easy for her to move around in here like Hua Po just did."

"I see. Why is she the only one that can do that? Does it have to do with something in the valley, or..."

"Something about a mysterious benefactor named Philemon and his mysterious agenda. That's literally about all anyone knows about it." Damien said hastily. He had a feeling that that question was starting to get old, and that continuing to ask Lydia about it would eventually get on her nerves.

"Oh. Well, I hope this Philemon really _is_ a good guy. Sometimes these 'mysterious benefactors' aren't so benevolent; they're really just using the protagonists to achieve their own ends while pretending it's for the greater good. Not that I'm saying Philemon's bad! It's just... I've seen that kind of thing before."

"We should get going. We don't want to waste any time." Lydia said. Damien told Lin that they'd probably be gone for about a half hour or so, and to prepare drinks and put on some movie to watch when they returned.

The group changed into their newly enchanted clothes and left for the valley, where F.Z. materialized near them wearing the same purple dress as before. Lydia gave the ghost girl her new outfit – a blue-green dress with the designs of white flowers decorating it, which she happily changed into.

"Uh, so what am I gonna do with the other dress?" She asked, holding Lydia's old purple dress in her hand.

"There's a bunch of racks in the Velvet Room that Victor's called the Velvet Wardrobe. I haven't really used them since I figured everyone would want to be able to wear their enchanted clothing in everyday life, but since you don't exactly have a place to put _your_ clothes... I guess now I have a use for those racks. I'll go put it up, be right back." Lydia took the dress from her and made a quick trip to the Velvet Room. When she had returned, F.Z. crossed her arms and looked towards the dungeons that QIB had cleared out already.

"There hasn't been anything new going on here... it's gotten pretty boring without any new Shadows or Idols showing up. But I think you guys feel it too – like there's gonna be someone new here pretty soon. I hate to just stand around and wait, but I don't need to remind anyone what happened last time we tried to get some training done at the end of the week. I don't know what else to do. You all got any ideas?" Everyone looked at each other, trying to come up with some idea of what to do other than training.

"We _could_ just sit and talk for a while." Lydia suggested. F.Z. sighed and shrugged, before setting up a quartz table and chairs for everyone.

"Talk about what? I guess you all _do_ have lives when you're not running around in here doing QIB stuff... so what the hell, tell me about them." For a while, the group told F.Z. about what they were doing at school, as well as some of the activities they did outside of school, like Allie's eSports club and Nathan's health club. At some point, Lydia mentioned that they had ran into Lynne and Corbin in the real world, which caused F.Z. to fashion a four-pointed throwing star in her hand and plant it into the table.

"Oh, hell. Seriously? They're our age? They're still assholes in our world, aren't they?" Lydia decided to answer her question.

"Well... Corbin kind of was, but Lynne acted a lot differently than I expected her to. I only got to talk to her for a few minutes, but something about her demeanor towards this place is telling me she's not as enthusiastic about it as you would expect given what she did to us. It's like she doesn't really _want to do it._ They both look pretty normal on our side – compared to looking like supermodel adults on this side, which is apparently what their Idols looked like. I told her that something bad could happen to her if she and Corbin continued to help out the Idols, and then she said she had to go to class and she gave me her phone number. She hasn't responded to any of my texts, though."

"You forgot to mention she was in crutches. Apparently she was helping her dad fix a roof and she sprained her ankle, which means she can't go into the valley until it heals." Allie added. F.Z. took the throwing star out of the table and chucked it away, deciding to create a five-point star to replace it.

"Well, _that's_ some good news. That's one less psycho bitch we have to deal with. That just leaves that other idiot and Valerie, I guess." F.Z. disintegrated a hole in the middle of the throwing star and spun it around on her finger.

"I guess I should have asked Lynne about her. Corbin said that she'd 'be ready when she's ready', which means even they don't really know when she'll join them. Considering how Sycophanta seems to actually integrate new members, we won't see her until her Idol comes back to her and gives her that transformation power and a Persona." Lydia said. Damien put his hands behind his head and looked up towards the sky.

"Idols and Personas. That's something we have in common, I guess. Both us and Sycophanta got our Personas from our Idols, just in different ways. Makes sense, I guess – both Idols and Personas are supposed to represent parts of our inner selves. But the big difference is that _we_ were able to stand up against our Idols, while Sycophanta gave into theirs. What doesn't make sense to me is why _their_ Personas are _stronger_ than ours. I mean, doesn't it take more strength to realize who you are is good enough than to give in to the temptation to chase some false image? Something's not right about that." Allie crossed her arms and put them on the table, leaning her head down on top of her arms.

"Well, maybe it has something to do with the Shadows. They certainly don't seem to like us barging into dungeons and wiping them out, so maybe they favor people who give into their Idols rather than resisting them? I don't know."

"And another thing. Before you guys came along, I counted _five_ people that landed in here and met their Idols. I'm glad we don't have to deal with it, but you'd think Sycophanta would have had, I don't know, _five_ people rather than just two when we first met them? The hell is going on there?" F.Z. said, deciding to create a copy of the five-pointed star with a hole in it and twirl both on her finger.

"So many questions... where are we even supposed to _start_ with finding any answers?" Nathan asked.

"I mean, here we are just sitting around waiting for someone to drop in here so we can save them. There's nothing _in_ the dungeons, right? Besides Shadows and the occasional useful item? Our enemies seem to know more than we do and as far as we know, they've only been here once!" He continued.

"So... what do you think the 'big thing' Corbin mentioned was? If he was actually telling the truth and no one shows up today... he said this place was gathering power for something. F.Z., have you felt anything out of the ordinary lately?" Allie asked. F.Z. shrugged and crumbled the throwing stars in her hand, leaving a pile of quartz dust on the table.

"It's been more dead than me in here. If this place is planning something, I have no idea what it is."

For a while, the group sat around the table of quartz and made small talk, wondering if anything really _was_ going to happen. After long enough, they began to get the feeling that they probably _could've_ done some training and not missed anything, but no one wanted to take that chance a second time. After long enough, F.Z. stood up from her chair and tossed it away, turning it into dust and scattering it on the ground.

"I can't believe we're just sitting here waiting for something to happen. Lydia, why don't you take these guys and go to the warehouse, or something? Leave me behind, and if something pops up I'll rush over here and get you guys. It's not like you need my help to take down Shadows you've already fought before, anyway." Everyone else stood up, looking past Lydia towards Allie's dungeon, which was the smallest compared to the others as it was just a courtyard and one big room.

"Sounds good enough to me. I'm starting to get bored just waiting. If something pops up, we'll probably see it and be there in two minutes, tops." Nathan said.

"Okay. F.Z., we'll leave you on lookout duty. Once we clear out the Shadows crawling around the warehouse, we'll come right back here." Lydia turned and led everyone to the vine-fence surrounding the warehouse, where Shadows popped up in anticipation of their return.

"Don't push yourselves too hard. We'll need to conserve our energy."

F.Z. watched from a distance as the rest of QIB summoned their Personas and went to town on the waves of Shadows surrounding the warehouse. She knew that even after they'd taken down every last Shadow in there, that they'd just come back once they'd left the valley. The Shadows were always drawn to people, as well as anything that was made _from_ people. Yet in every single instance after her death, they had completely ignored her, unable to even register her existence. As the Persona-users disappeared into the warehouse to dispatch the remaining Shadows, she watched and waited around where people normally would get thrown in here, entertaining herself by chucking throwing stars at walls of quartz. It occurred to her that doing this in particular probably meant she liked ninjas, or something to that effect – which was yet another piece of information regarding her previous life that she had gathered.

"I wonder if it even matters who I used to be. It's not like learning that is gonna bring me back to life." She muttered. Soon enough, Lydia and the others came walking back towards her, and she disintegrated all the various quartz implements she'd used to pass the time.

"Nothing's happened. I guess you guys can clear out the first floor of Damien's place, and whatever's in the front of Nathan's. That's far enough away that you can still get out quickly." Lydia nodded and took the group to the parking lot in front of Damien's skyscraper.

F.Z. continued to satiate her boredom by fashioning various weapons out of quartz – knives, hammers, saws, spears, swords, putting all of them onto a quartz table and wondering where exactly she picked up an affinity for sharp objects. Did she watch a bunch of action flicks or something in her previous life?

"Doesn't matter. None of this crap helps anyone, anyway." She pounded her fists on the table and in an instant brought all of her creations to dust. Again, Lydia and the group returned to the entrance and were told the same thing – that no one had shown up, and that nothing had happened while they were gone.

"We'll go to the stadium, then. I've actually picked up some more Personas to use for fusion – and a couple of items, too! We'll have you tell us what they do once we get back."

"Yeah, yeah. Go do what you gotta do."

Another round of killing time was had by the ghost girl. Rather than mess around using her powers, she decided to just lay down on the grass, staring up at the perpetually blue sky with its never-moving sun pouring out endless sunlight.

"...the hell. Since when was there a _cloud_?" In the distance was a small, puffy white cloud. It was isolated, without a single other cloud in the sky. That _had_ to mean _something._ Not once had there ever been any changes in the weather of this place, and although something as small as that singular cloud wasn't going to do anything, it might not _stay_ a singular cloud for long.

"So... I wonder what it means when this place is full of clouds. Or if it starts raining... probably something stupid." F.Z. pouted, glaring at the little cloud. She had never really needed to attend to any sort of bodily need ever since she died, which included showering. Being rained on would almost certainly ruin her hair and clothes.

She sat up and created a quartz umbrella, making one large enough to pass for a beach umbrella. After realizing that holding it the whole time was annoying, she sharpened the end and planted it into the ground, only to have the umbrella tip over and make a divot in the ground where the sharp end had turned over. She then took a few inches off of the handle and tried again, where the umbrella stayed put this time, blocking the sunlight from reaching her.

"Going to the beach wouldn't be so bad. Too bad there's no beach or even a lake or anything around here." F.Z. muttered, sprawling out her limbs on the ground and waving them back and forth on the grass. She lay there bored until Lydia and the rest of QIB finally came back, with Damien the first to make a comment about her position.

"Looks like all _you_ need is a pillow and a beach towel." F.Z. sat up and smirked, for once not finding his remarks annoying.

"I wouldn't mind if you brought me a pillow and a beach towel. I don't sleep, but that doesn't mean I can't relax."

"I guess everything's been okay while we were gone." Allie said, observing that there hadn't been any change in their surroundings. F.Z. laid back down on the ground and pointed towards the sky.

"There's a cloud over there somewhere. I don't know what it means, but _any_ changes to this place mean _something,_ so... I guess maybe Sycophanta were onto something after all." The group looked up and saw that there was indeed a small, puffy white cloud in the sky that had formerly been entirely clear.

"Uh, yeah, I guess. Hopefully it doesn't start raining Shadows or something." Nathan said, imagining the cloud developing into a thunderstorm and dropping black Shadow blobs instead of rain as precipitation. Everyone got a similar image in their heads and gave him a nervous look, which caused him to raise his hands and take a step back.

"Hey, hey, I wasn't serious! I mean, the Shadows come out of the quartz here, don't they? Why would they come out of clouds? I mean... that wouldn't make sense, would it...?" He nervously tried to pass off the possibility. Lydia gathered the items that the group had collected and put the new ones next to F.Z.

"Well, let's not worry about that right now. F.Z., we've brought you some items. We know what a couple of them do already, but we found some that we haven't seen before. Mind telling us what their names are and what they do?" F.Z. picked up the first item set next to her, which was an orb brimming with fire. It felt warm, like a singular flame ready to be unleashed at a moment's notice.

"If you toss this at an enemy, it'll deal fire damage to them. I guess you can call it an Agilao Orb, whatever 'Agilao' means." She put down the orb and picked up a clear gem with a cloudy interior. It felt like the mist within could obscure enemies' enhancements.

"This thing... if you activate it, it casts a spell that removes any buffs enemies have on them. Yeah, it's... a Dekaja Gem." The third item was a lilac-colored stone that pulsed with what felt like a heartbeat, its touch radiating energy.

"And this thing... it heals, plain and simple. But it's like... its healing is dependent on who uses it. It wouldn't matter if Allie or Nathan used it, it'd make either of them feel the same amount of better. I don't know exactly how else to put it. Call it a Life Stone. Is there anything else?"

"No, we know about the other items we got – a Goho-M and another one of those things that heals our mental energy. Actually, you... never got to name it. It was the one full of glowing powder inside." Lydia handed F.Z. a familiar tulip-shaped container.

"Oh, yeah. Uh... it's a... Snuff Soul? You're supposed to snort this crap? Whatever, here, take it." She gave it back to Lydia, and Nathan made a face at the item he had consumed one of in trying to keep his healing up after being stomped by Rosalia.

"I don't know about snorting it, uh... I just ate it like it was powder candy. It tasted pretty good, actually." The former football player said, scratching his head.

"There really hasn't been anything happening, huh." Lydia said, wondering what the group should do now that they had gotten in some training and spent some of their energy. To do any _more_ training would possibly deplete their reserves to the point where they wouldn't be able to complete a dungeon if a new one popped up, but what else was there to do?

"I think I heard you guys once mention that time is wonky between this place and the real world. Something about it being faster here than on your side. If someone is gonna show up here _today,_ you guys could be waiting here for a lot longer than you would in the real world." F.Z. said, closing her eyes and resting underneath her quartz umbrella. Damien put his hands behind his head and looked off in a direction where there were no dungeons.

"Yeah. She's got a point. I mean, it probably hasn't even been a half hour back in the real world yet. There's no rule against checking this place every ten minutes or whatever, just so we can keep an eye on things here without being bored out of our minds. We can take turns popping in and out so that any one person only has to come here every so often."

"Whatever works. You know where I'll be." F.Z. said, continuing to lay on the ground with her eyes closed.

The group then agreed to leave the valley and send someone to check on it regularly. They came back to the house, where Lin met them with worried and curious eyes.

"Nothing's wrong. No one has disappeared yet, but we're going to take turns checking on the valley to make sure we don't miss someone." Damien said, assuring his sister that they were all okay and starting the next movie from his family's huge collection.

 **Saturday, Afternoon – Cloudy**

After several rounds and two whole movies later, there was still no sign of any disappearances. Damien's parents had finally come home, allowing the group to meet them for the first time. Now that there was someone around whom QIB couldn't let see what was going on, they had decided to all return to their homes, continuing the routine of making regular rounds into the valley throughout the day while being sure to do something they could drop if they needed to.

 **Saturday, Evening – Clear**

"There's really been _nothing._ All day, just nothing. Ugh, maybe Sycophanta _wasn't_ trying to trick us this time. But why would they help us?" Damien asked over the group text. Lydia sat by her window overlooking the street. It had been a little dicey keeping up with the schedule since everyone had to eat at some point, but it was now nine in the evening and still not a sign of anything unusual occurring in the valley. F.Z. was at least grateful for the company, always having _someone_ to talk to throughout the day.

"Maybe they were just trying to be courteous. Lynne told me she didn't want to be enemies if we could help it." Lydia responded.

"I guess they werent kiding" Nathan said. Out of the group, Lydia noticed that he was the only one to not really bother with perfect grammar or spelling in his texts. She could tolerate that – as long as he didn't use 'k' as a response ever again.

"Then maybe you should try and see if you can get her to tell us anything more. It might not help, but any info we can garner could help us figure out what's going to happen next." Allie said.

 _She's right. No one new showed up in the valley this week, and if that was true, then the part about something big happening next week should also be true, too. Hopefully we don't miss out on it. Lynne will probably still be unable to participate since a sprained ankle takes a while to heal, but Corbin is more than willing to fight us, and Valerie is still unaccounted for. I guess we should be glad we got to do a little training today... we'll see about doing some more tomorrow while we have the time for it. We'll need to be as prepared as we can for whatever's coming next._

* * *

 **A/N: SakuraDreamerz - Hmm, I wonder about that too... I guess you'll just have to wait and see what's really going on with those two.**


	27. Chapter 25

**September 30, 2015 – Wednesday, Early Morning – Rainy**

"Oh, man! The cold front finally came in!" Gerald said, looking through the blinds and seeing the rain fall at a steady pace, the wind blowing to match. Lydia put her hand to the window and felt that the glass was cool – it made her wish this weather had come Sunday so she could've relaxed beside it. Instead, QIB had gathered together in the valley to continue training, with everyone contributing their newest enchanted outfit to the Velvet Wardrobe in case the next disappearance happened while they were wearing normal clothes.

"Finally, yeah. Too bad we still have tests remaining. But hey! They'll all be over by the end of this week and then we can enjoy the cooler temperatures." The White siblings left for school. For once, Gerald took his time walking into the school building instead of getting inside and out of the humid heat as fast as possible; even _he_ could slow down for a moment to appreciate the better weather, Lydia thought.

 _It's a shame Lynne and Corbin have been avoiding us the past two days. She won't respond to my text messages, either. They probably know something about the next disappearance and decided that they were done giving out hints... or who knows, they probably have tests too. I'd hate to have to hobble around on crutches in the rain, though._

As she came inside, she was greeted by Nathan, who had been looking through a notebook.

"Hey, Lydia. Good morning."

"Hey. What's with the notebook? Were you studying for something?" Nathan nodded, opting to show her what he had written in it – a half-legible mass of lines about what looked like physics, with various formulas scribbled about on the page.

"Yeah, uh, physics test is today. It's like math and science had a baby, you know? You have all these formulas and then a bunch of sciencey concepts behind them. Hoping I won't bomb this one."

"Did you want to talk about something? You don't typically show up on this side of the building." Nathan put the notebook away and pointed in the direction of the nearest staircase, which was down the hall.

"There's something I want to show you. Come on, it won't take that long." He started walking away. Lydia shrugged, deciding to follow him down the hall, up the stairs, and across the second floor hallway to a huge window where some couches and tables were set up to act as a mini-lounge. The rain spattered against the window, with a short Hispanic boy nervously waiting at a table and checking his phone, a set of paintbrushes sticking out of his backpack. Lydia felt that she had seen him before, but paid him no mind as Nathan put down his backpack on the floor near the window and sat on the couch facing outwards.

"I know we already did something like this before, but... thought you might enjoy the view from here when it's raining." Lydia looked at the view afforded by the building: the practice fields that were currently empty, with the edge of the forest just beyond the fencing that sectioned them off. The sky was a light shade of gray, with the wind blowing at the tops of the trees that made up the border of the forest.

"It's calming. Back at my house, I have a view of the street from the second floor. It's kind of like this, except it's not as expansive." She turned to look at him and briefly made eye contact; he quickly shifted his eyes towards the window after he realized that she saw him watching her.

"Yeah, uh, I didn't get any windows. Still don't, even though both my brothers are out of the house. I tried talking my parents into letting me have James's room since he's going to live on his own pretty soon, but they vetoed that one. He's gonna get a ton of money since computer engineering is real hot right now, but I guess if things _don't_ work out for him and he's gotta crash at home for a while, he'll still have his old room. That's what they told me, anyway. I don't think it'll be an issue, though. He's definitely on top of it all." Nathan slouched in the couch, leaning his head back and staring at the ceiling.

"Are you looking forward to graduating?" Lydia asked.

"Yeah. See, now that I know what I wanna do once I leave high school, I can't wait to actually get started with it. The health club meetings have been really enjoyable for me. They're planning on making a visit to the local hospital in October to check out what the EMTs do, which is gonna be really cool. I just want to get the diploma and scoot."

"I hadn't really given too much thought about what I want to study in college. Maybe some kind of liberal arts program, I guess, but I don't have any specific ideas."

"Yeah, you still have a year to figure out that stuff. They have these programs in college called general studies for people who don't know what they want to do yet. I think it's... you take your basic courses, and you meet with a counselor or somebody to help you figure out what appeals to you. My brothers already knew what they wanted, but I remember them talking about how some of their friends were undecided for a few semesters before picking a major." Lydia heard the clicking of heels behind her, and looked over to see that a girl in ostentatiously flashy clothing had arrived and looked down at the Hispanic boy, who put his phone away and stood up to see her.

"Sit down. You're going to _want to_ for this." The girl in heels said in a commanding tone, which the boy readily obeyed. Nathan glanced over at the two of them before turning his attention back to the big windowpane.

"How do you feel about the MET? I hear they're going to change it next year, so by the time you get around to it, it's gonna be completely different from the one I took. They're making the essay optional, which is huge since a lot of the people I knew that took the MET hated the essay, me included." Lydia tried not to pay attention to the conversation that was going on next to her. The girl in heels had put her hands on her hips and looked like she was about to lecture the boy sitting at the table. Nathan saw how she was distracted and decided that maybe they should continue their conversation someplace else.

"Hey, uh, maybe we should go. That looks like it's gonna be pretty serious." He said to her, lowering his voice.

"What is it? What's going on, Lana?" The boy sat up about as straight as he could, looking as if the fancy-dressed girl was about to punish him for something.

"This whole thing, it's not working out." Lana said, making a little circle in the air with her finger. The boy's eyes widened, and he momentarily looked at Lydia and Nathan sitting a few feet away before freezing up and muttering his next words.

"W-what... thing? What are you talking about?"

"Hey, Lydia. Come on. This looks like their business." Nathan said, tugging at Lydia's shoulder. Lydia slowly stood up and grabbed her backpack.

"Jacob, sweetie. This whole _relationship_ thing isn't working out. You never want to go anywhere. I'm the one who's always having to make plans, and honestly, your interests are just _boring_ to me." Even though Nathan was already starting to walk off towards the stairs, Lydia found that she couldn't tear herself away from watching this. The students that were passing by had also slowed down, some of them also curious as to what was going on since Lana's voice was quite loud. They could all see how his countenance was beginning to crack from what was clearly going to be a messy breakup.

"You're a sweet guy, you really are, it's just I was hoping for a little more _excitement,_ you know? And... well, I never really liked having to be the one to pick _you_ up since you can't even drive yet. It's time for me to move on! I'm sorry." A couple of the guys that had stopped to watch visibly reacted in pain, sympathizing with Jacob's loss before starting to talk about it amongst themselves as they moved on. Nathan realized that Lydia wasn't following him almost halfway back to the staircase, and jogged back to her to try and get her to go with him. He saw that Lana had dropped her hands to her sides and was sighing.

"Please don't look at me like that... you're just going to make it harder. I'm sure you'll find someone else! Listen, I have to go. We can still be friends, okay? I'll see you later." Without waiting another moment, Lana walked away from him, not looking back. Jacob, looking like he was about to cry, bolted off towards the men's restroom, forgetting his backpack in his haste. Lydia then turned to Nathan with a worried look on her face.

"Nathan, you should follow him in there. He's really stressed right now, and if he looks into the mirror in the restroom..."

"Oh, crap. Damn, I should've thought about that! Okay, got you. What do you want me to do if he vanishes?"

"Text us all, immediately. I'm going to go downstairs and get Allie and Damien."

"Alright!" Nathan went down the hall to the men's restroom and followed Jacob inside. The two other guys that were inside quickly left, feeling uncomfortable in the presence of their sobbing classmate. Nathan took a deep breath and stepped forward to at least try and keep him from looking into the mirror.

"Why? What's... what's _wrong_ with me?" Jacob sputtered, turning on the faucet and washing his face to mask the fact that he was crying. He looked up at the mirror and Nathan immediately put a hand on his shoulder, drawing his attention away from it.

"It'll be alright, uh... Jacob. There'll be other girls, I mean-"

"Don't touch me." He edged away from Nathan, moving over towards the wall where he could look into the mirror.

"Dude, you don't want to do that!" Nathan leapt towards him and tried to tilt him away from the mirror, only to find that Jacob had dodged him and pushed him into the sink, almost knocking him off balance.

"Leave. Me. Alone!" He growled, glaring up at the senior who was at least a head taller. Normally, Nathan would have obliged, not wanting to mess with him any further, but considering what would happen to him if he _was_ left alone... he'd just have to deal with him. He spread his arms and blocked Jacob's view of the mirror as much as he could.

"Listen, man. If you look into this mirror while you're all sad like this, you're gonna end up like those people on the news. Those disappearances, they start when someone who's all stressed out stares into a mirror. Trust me, that's exactly what happened to me." Jacob gave him an astonished, confused look while he was saying all this, and his eyes wandered towards where part of the mirror was still exposed. His reflection shimmered for a moment before Nathan moved him away again, pointing him towards the door.

"Dude, seriously. I'm sorry your girlfriend broke up with you, but you gotta find some other place to cool down. Don't go looking at your reflection until you've calmed down, okay?" He momentarily turned away for a bit to shut off the faucet as Jacob scurried away. Another couple of guys came in, talking about last night's professional football game. Nathan ignored them and kept his eye on Jacob as he left the restroom, sighing.

"Hey, you. You're Nathan Young, aren't you?" One of the guys that had walked into the restroom approached him, his buddy following behind. They were both a few inches shorter than he was, and were both dressed fairly casually with t-shirts and blue jeans.

"Uh, yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Heard you quit the football team. We were wondering what was up with that. No offense, but you kinda did the school a favor. You were sucking big time." The guy that had asked the question said. Nathan rolled his eyes and looked down at the annoying student. Yes, that had been part of why he had quit, but it wasn't the whole reason.

"If I wanted to, I could've gotten back in form. I found something else I wanted to do instead." The other guy raised his eyebrows.

"Like what?" He wasn't as condescending as his friend, looking legitimately curious as to what Nathan had chosen over football.

"You know we have a student health club? I joined that instead. Even when I was good, I was never gonna go pro playing football, anyway. No, now I'm into becoming a paramedic. Listen, class is gonna start soon, so I should really get going." Nathan walked away from the two guys.

"Yeah, I hear you. See you later, man." The nicer of the two guys said as they both began to wash their hands. Nathan left the restroom and was immediately face-to-face with Damien, who was looking back and forth across the hallway.

"Where is he?"

"Where's who?" Nathan looked to where Jacob had been near the window and saw nothing, then looked the other way and saw some other students going to class.

"The guy you were looking after. He's not still in there, is he?"

"No! He left just a few seconds ago, I kept him from looking into the mirror. Everything's fine, man. Crisis averted." Allie and Lydia approached them, Lydia holding Jacob's backpack with the paintbrushes sticking out of it at an awkward angle to where they were before.

"I found it turned over with these paintbrushes fallen out near the window." Lydia said. Allie sighed, adjusting her glasses.

"Nathan, did you see exactly what he did once he left the restroom?"

"Uh, no! I got held up by some guys asking me about football! You're not telling me he disappeared in the minute I was talking to them, are you?" He quickly walked back to the spot by the big window, wondering what could have possibly happened to Jacob. As he approached the window, he was able to see his own reflection, faint in the glass that was still shielding them from the rain.

"You have _got_ to be _kidding me._ He leaves my sight for _one minute_ after I tell him _not_ to look at his damn reflection, and then that's the _first_ damn thing he does!" The rest of the group caught up to him as the warning bell rang throughout the halls. No one else seemed to have picked up on what happened, as students quickly moved about trying to get to their classes on time.

"You should've known he was gonna come back to get his stuff! Why'd you let yourself get distracted?" Damien asked. Nathan turned around and threw his hands up in the air.

"I don't know! Was I supposed to follow him around until he made it to whatever class he had, just to make sure he didn't look at himself? That guy was bawling his eyes out! I mean, what was I-"

"Both of you, stop! That's not important right now. If he's really _gone,_ then we can't waste any more time. I was worried this was going to happen sooner or later, and it looks like it's happened – we have to go during school. Good thing we already took Mr. Marshall's test, or we'd _really_ be in trouble." Lydia approached the window, seeing her own reflection and putting her hand up on the glass, feeling the cool surface. It looked like it didn't just have to be a mirror that could draw people into the valley – any large enough reflective surface would suffice.

"This sucks. If we get caught cutting class, what are we going to tell people?" Allie asked.

"Worry about that later! How are we going to get into the valley right now? Wait until all the people leave the restrooms for class? Lydia, is the dance room open right now? Can we still use that?" Damien said, trying not to catch the attention of the other students. Lydia let out a frustrated breath, taking her hand off of the glass and turning around to address the group.

"No. The room is locked during the day and only Coach Carter has the key to open it. We'll just have to use the restroom mirrors. Class is about to start, so people should be leaving. Come on, let's go!" Lydia led everyone to the restrooms, and split up with Allie into the women's restroom. There were still a couple of girls washing their hands and talking to each other, which made Lydia wish she could just push them out so they could get going.

 _I'd do that, but I don't want to get into any more fights than I have to already._

"Do you think Lynne and Corbin knew this was going to happen?" Allie asked.

"I don't know. They knew _something_ was going to happen this week, but I couldn't tell you if they'd know _exactly_ what was going to happen. I would definitely count on seeing Corbin later, though... and maybe Valerie, too." The other girls shut off the water, dried their hands, and then left the restroom, continuing their conversation about some topic of gossip Lydia couldn't care less about right now. After checking that there was no one that could see them, the two girls looked into the big mirror in front of them and went into the valley, where the guys and F.Z. were waiting for them.

"Lydia! Allie! Good, all of you are here! Look at this shit!" F.Z. pointed behind them. The girls turned around to see that there were not one, but _two_ different structures standing before them now; the first was a large, four-story building made of quartz that looked like it took its architectural inspiration from the Pantheon, and the other was much smaller, something akin to a cave opening made from quartz that went underground.

"Two guys came in here, one right after the other. They didn't even notice each other – they just ran straight ahead and their dungeons appeared around them. What the fuck are we supposed to do now?" The first thought that popped into Lydia's mind – split up – was also the first thing that would likely get them all killed; it had always been a full-team effort to rescue someone before, and that was before Sycophanta got involved. Even if it _was_ only Corbin showing up, there was no way a two-man team could handle both him _and_ the Idol.

"I guess this is what they were talking about when they said the valley was getting ready for something big... now it can pull in two people at a time." Damien said, stepping forward and looking between the two new dungeons. The cave definitely seemed more threatening than the Pantheon-looking place; what would happen to them if the guy inside let his Idol take him? Last time, everyone fell to the ground after the dungeon disappeared – but if an underground dungeon were to give way, wouldn't that basically be the same as a cave in?

"I bet you Sycophanta is gonna be here any second now. I do _not_ want to have to deal with their bullshit right now, so Lydia, you have to choose. Which one are we going into? That big building, or the cave?" F.Z. turned to face Lydia. She clenched her fists together, and walked away from everyone towards the door to the Velvet Room, looking down at the ground the whole way.

"I'm... going to get our clothing." She muttered, stepping through the door and seeing the scenery around her change to the theatrical dressing room that was the Velvet Room. Victor noticed her down expression, but chose not to say anything about it.

"Welcome back, Lydia. What will you be requiring of us today?" He asked politely. She turned her attention to the outfits she had left hanging on the rack and grabbed them all, not wanting to talk to Victor any more than she had to.

"Just these. Nothing else for now." After she had taken the outfits, she turned around and left, not even bothering to say goodbye.

"We look forward to your next-" Victor's voice was cut off by her returning to the valley. The group was still standing there, everyone looking at her and expecting her to make the call.

 _We won't have **time** to save both. That means... one of these two will have to face their Idols alone, or will have a Sycophanta member there to coax them into accepting it. Since when was I the one solely responsible for making decisions like these? I didn't make myself leader, everyone else just accepted that because I have the wild card! Why are they making **me** make the decision?!_

"Uh, Lydia? What do you think we should do?" Damien asked. Lydia gripped tightly onto the outfits she was holding and raised her voice at him.

"What do _you_ think we should do, Damien? We're five people with functioning minds, aren't we? How come you all haven't come up with any ideas? Do you realize that no matter what we do, at least _one person_ is not going to make it out of here with us? How am _I_ supposed to choose who we leave behind? _You all_ choose! Here! Put these on and figure it out." She stormed over to each person and gave them their clothes. F.Z. raised a wall of quartz shaped like a plus sign to accommodate each person, and stood facing Lydia as everyone changed. Her expression was sympathetic, something that Lydia had never seen out of the girl who was always charged up about something. She approached her and said in a quiet voice:

"I don't _do_ underground. You should know why." Lydia remembered that F.Z. had been killed by being buried alive, and nodded in acknowledgment. There was one vote.

"Okay. F.Z. says no to the cave! What about the rest of you?"

"Uh, do we have any idea which one is Jacob's? I was at least able to talk to him for a little bit, he'll at least recognize me!" Nathan said from across the wall.

"Which one was Jacob?" F.Z. asked.

"Short, Hispanic. Looked kinda like a freshman!"

"Okay, well, the other guy's was the cave!"

"Then... I guess I choose Jacob's place!"

"If it's really a cave in there, that means there's a lot of earth-using Shadows. Medusa would be able to handle them without any problems. Lydia, I know you and Nathan were able to see Jacob and what had happened to him, but... I think between the four of us and our Personas, clearing the cave would be faster. We don't know what's in Jacob's dungeon – there could be anything in a building that looks like some Greek monument." Allie said. Lydia finished changing into her new outfit: a dress with a forest green top and a pleated ivory skirt – a getup that F.Z. was glad Lydia hadn't bought for her, since it reminded her too much of the grass and quartz that covered the valley.

"I agree with Allie. I can't say I know a lot about soothing the bruised ego of a guy who's just broken up with somebody. No offense, Nathan, but Jacob might be less inclined to listen to us if you're there – he'll feel threatened by the big ex-football player that stopped him from looking at the mirror for no reason. I say we go spelunking." Damien said, making Lydia cringe.

 _I'm no better off than when we started! They're split down the middle! They're really going to make **me** choose, aren't they..._

"Damn, that sucks." F.Z. said, still quietly so no one other than Lydia could hear.

"If you choose to go into that cave, you're leaving me behind. Go save Jacob." She continued. Lydia took a deep breath. The others called out that they had finished changing, allowing F.Z. to disintegrate the wall. Lydia was grateful that F.Z. was giving her a compelling reason to pick one over the other – sure, she couldn't fight, but her ability to move as quickly and easily as the wind meant that she could scout dungeons faster than the rest of QIB. It would be better working with someone familiar; they could do it, they could save at least one person today.

"Jacob. We're going to... Jacob's dungeon." Lydia looked over at the Pantheon lookalike, and then regretfully looked over at the cave before shaking her head and marching towards Jacob's dungeon.

"Come on! We have a head start on Sycophanta, let's not lose it!" Damien and Allie took one last look at the opening to the cave and wondered exactly who it was that had made it. F.Z. at least knew it was a guy, but she hadn't said anything about how old he was, what he looked like, or anything else. That would have to wait until later – now that the group had a direction, they were going to follow it to its end, hopefully to save Jacob from his Idol.


	28. Chapter 26

**September 30, 2015 – Wednesday, Morning – Rainy**

Though it wasn't quite like the Pantheon, everyone had to wonder just what was inside the big building Jacob had created. Lydia thought back to the paintbrushes that had fallen out of his backpack when he had dropped it; surely that meant he was an artist of some sort. Maybe he really liked Renaissance art, and that had reflected in this dungeon.

"Here they come!" F.Z. said as three Shadows began to appear in front of the entrance, taking form as tall, slender shapes with long, pointed needles for arms. The group summoned their Personas, Lydia choosing to summon Ophelia first.

"We need to move quickly! Try your multi-target elemental attacks!" She said. Ophelia began with Maraqua, her hand sweeping outwards and sending a wave of water at the Shadows. They recoiled from the damage, but seemed to have no particular weakness to it. Before anyone else could get in another attack, however, the Shadows made their move – they all focused upon Lydia, charging at her with their sharp needle arms. Ophelia withstood their blows, all of which felt like someone was jabbing her with scissors.

"They focus on one at a time, huh? We'll stop them! Ra, Maragi!" Damien cried out, with Ra snapping his finger, setting each of the Shadows alright. They didn't budge an inch, ignoring the attack entirely.

"Ugh! Fire is useless!" Damien said.

"You're gonna gang up on a girl, huh? Why don't you pick on _me!_ I can take it! Mazio!" Tepeyollotl pointed his staff at the Shadows and called down bolts of lightning. One Shadow was able to dodge the attack, while the others shook from the impact. They still stood afterwards, telling everyone that their weakness was not electricity.

"Try this, then! Marmagna!" Allie pointed at the Shadows. Medusa brought down boulders onto each of the Shadows, damaging them further but still unable to take them down.

 _We haven't tried wind or ice yet. Power has Magaru. Let's see if that'll work._

"Guess I'm going physical next." Damien said.

"Nathan, I need some healing. I'm going to try another Persona. Allie, keep doing what you're doing." Lydia said, raising her mirror to her face to switch Personas and bring out Power. The angel appeared before the Shadows, clad in red armor and pointing his spear towards them.

"Magaru!" Power took his spear and thrust the bottom of it towards the ground, sending green, glowing gusts of wind to tear the Shadows apart. The attack shredded two of the three Shadows to bits, and knocked the remaining one down onto the ground.

"Save your energy! It's almost dead." Lydia said. Nathan had Tepeyollotl heal her with Dia, and Allie and Damien finished off the defenseless Shadow with normal attacks. Three quartz seeds remained where they had fallen, the silhouettes of the cards they contained floating above them.

One of the auras around the cards was purple, with a glowing white roman numeral IV superimposed on top of it. Lydia was immediately reminded of the Arcana, recalling that IV was the number associated with the Emperor. She touched it and saw that the dotted lines that typically went out from the card did not appear – instead, it immediately materialized into a fully-illustrated Emperor Arcana card, the other quartz seeds and their possibilities dissolving away.

As she held the card in her hand, she was briefly able to get a look at the kingly figure on it before it exploded into beams of white light, each one going into the Persona-users of QIB. Power spoke from within her mind, saying,

" _The mystical energy contained within the card of the Emperor Arcana has granted us and our allies a new level of strength! Our foes shall tremble before our increased might!"_

"What kind of card was that? I suddenly feel stronger, way more than I usually do whenever you get one of those green wand cards." Nathan asked. Lydia looked back at him, quickly glancing towards the entrance to the valley to see that no one was following them.

"It was a card from the Major Arcana, the Emperor. According to what my Persona was telling me, it gives all of us a new level of power."

"That's pretty good. Turns out that's just what Ra needed – now he can use Agilao." Damien said.

"Medusa also can use Petravira now." Allie added.

"Finally got Diarama for Tepeyollotl. I guess that would've helped more than Dia earlier, huh? Do you need any more healing right now, Lydia?" Nathan asked.

"No, I'm fine. Let's go inside." The group approached the entrance to the dungeon, which was a set of four large doors all arranged next to each other. The doors, though made of quartz, seemed to depict an image of a lithe, athletic man with his back turned to the viewer, facing what appeared to be the setting sun with a paintbrush in one hand and a palette in the other. He stood at the edge of a cliff, and was raising his painting supplies as if he was going to offer them to the ocean.

"F.Z., go on ahead and scout out the first floor. If you find something that looks important – big Shadows, keys, anything that'll help us get through here faster, you come back to us immediately and tell us."

"Gotcha." The group went inside, and came face to face with what appeared to be a receptionist's area, with two narrow hallways gated by black metal keeping anyone from going on further. The walls were a rich, deep red, with golden gilding along their edges. A large, black leather chair behind the receptionist's desk had its back facing to the entrance. That caught everyone's attention for a moment before the lights dimmed and spotlights built into the ceiling turned on, highlighting the walls.

Huge paintings hung upon the walls – there were three in total, one for each inner wall. The one to their left depicted a forest at sunset, with an eagle perched upon the top of the tallest tree and looking down at the other birds resting upon the other trees. The one to their right was an image of the forest at night where a log cabin had been built in a clearing; the moon was full and illuminated the area within the image, showing a burnt-out fireplace and a set of rocks arranged around it with not a single sign of life in sight.

" **Welcome! Tell me, visitors, do you like what you see?"** The ethereal voice of an Idol spoke as the left and right spotlights turned off and the center spotlight turned on, the chair swiveling around and the person in it moving it to the side to show off the painting on the innermost wall: an image of what was very clearly an older and more physically fit Jacob in intricate red robes, at the center of what appeared to be a grotto of some kind with a single opening in ceiling to let sunlight in. He was crouched, looking down into the water with a quiet smile, and in his reflection he saw what appeared to be a version of Lana in a silky white dress, looking back at him with an innocent grin.

F.Z. decided to skip out on the incoming lecture and turned into the wind, going through the gates and into the dungeon ahead of everyone else. The Idol did not notice her disappearance whatsoever, and reached underneath the desk to pull out a stylus with a sharpened metal point. He raised his eyebrows at them, a warm smile on his face.

" **Well? What do you think of my work? I put my heart and soul into it!"** Nathan scratched his head in confusion, wondering what the Idol was trying to do. Damien sized up the paintings, finding that although they were seriously impressive, there had to be some kind of catch. Lydia approached the desk, figuring that if this person sitting in front of her really represented Jacob's wishes for himself, he was seeking some kind of validation.

"It's really well-made. I can see the dedication you put into your art. What kind of place is this? Is it some kind of museum?" She asked. Idol Jacob slid his chair back to the center of the desk and stood up, putting his hands together with his index fingers pointing upwards.

" **Yes. You could say that. You, my lady, have a proper sense of appreciation for the arts. You can see the skill by which I have created these paintings; it is a shame that my other self is too lost in the depths of his heartbreak to acknowledge the possibility that he may rise above his lowly state by accepting me and taking on my power."**

"Hold on. You already tried to get Jacob to accept you and he said no? Then why haven't you..." Damien trailed off. The Idols always went berserk whenever their real selves rejected them; how could this one be an exception? Was he just more patient than the others?

" **Why haven't I what? It is not that he has rejected me; rather, I cannot even get through to him. He has seen the works I have made and yet still does not believe that I am telling him the truth. I noticed you all coming after that kerfuffle outside and hoped that a second opinion might be enough to convince him. However, in order for you to truly understand what I am about, you must experience all that my museum has to offer and make your way to the fourth floor. I shall prepare a grand masterpiece for you all and for him – a magnum opus that even _he_ cannot ignore!"** He went to the wall underneath the painting and signed his name into it with the metal stylus. An elevator dropped out of the ceiling and encased him within, rising back into the ceiling and dropping the entrance gates into the ground for QIB.

"He's inviting us in and even telling us where we need to go. I don't know if that's a good thing or not." Allie said. She wondered if somehow the valley was making the Idols more savvy over time, as if it knew someone was keeping them from winning over their other selves and was upping the odds in its favor. It certainly had already done that very effectively by ensuring it would always get at least one person by taking two at a time now.

"It doesn't matter. We gotta go in anyway. Let's go!" Damien said, running into the right hallway. The group split up and went into the museum – it turned out the two hallways were meant to be a sort of entrance and exit. They all ended up in a brightly lit room with a shiny, varnished wooden floor, a large open space filled with hallways with colored squares above each one. The stairs were closed off by a large black gate similar to the ones that they had just passed.

F.Z. returned to the room and found everyone was there. She turned to face them and spread her arms out.

"Okay, here's the deal with this place. There are Shadows in all of these rooms here – and they're all different kinds. None of them really feel all that strong, but I don't think that gate up there is gonna budge until you guys start wiping out those Shadows. I'm gonna go upstairs and figure out what the next floors are like. Maybe you guys should split up!" With that, she disappeared from their sight and went upstairs. Lydia looked around the room and saw that there were six different colors on the squares: red, blue, green, yellow, brown, and turquoise. They reminded her of the elemental affinities given to spells, and she wondered if those squares weren't telling them what kind of Shadows waited within each room.

"F.Z.'s right. If we want to make it through here as fast as possible, we should split up. However, we don't know exactly how strong the Shadows are. Let's go in pairs: Allie, you go with Nathan into the yellow hallway, and Damien will come with me down the blue one. That way, each pair has someone who can heal if they need to. If one of us gets back before the other, wait until we're all back before we split up again so we don't both go down the same hallway." Nathan turned his attention to the hallway with the yellow square about it, and beckoned Allie to come with him.

"Gotcha! Come on, Allie!" Nathan said, beginning to run into the hallway.

"Alright!" Allie followed behind him. Lydia led Damien down the hallway with the blue square above it. It led them down a curved path to an open area where the lights had mostly been turned off; this room had a painting mounted on a wooden frame with a stand jutting out from the ground, a white spotlight on it the only illumination within the room. It depicted what appeared to be Idol Jacob creating an igloo out of snow in the middle of winter, while an older-looking Lana watched with anticipation and a thick, fluffy outfit.

"He must have _really_ had a thing for this chick if there are paintings of her like this one in each of these rooms." Damien commented. As the two of them approached the large painting, four Shadows appeared from around it, as if they were guarding it. Half of them were shaped like the dead trees in the painting, and the other half were like large boulders, all of them wearing masks with a matching blue color.

"Well, I'm guessing the element in here is ice! Perfect for Ra and Hua Po to take on." Damien looked into his mirror and called his Persona, who began the fight by casting Maragi. The tree-like Shadows dropped immediately, but the rock-like Shadows barely even flinched.

"Only works on half, huh? Let's see how you like this!" Damien followed up by having Ra use Double Shot on one of the boulders, which made it rock back and forth before settling. Lydia called out Hua Po, commanding her to use Agilao on one of the downed trees, wiping it out.

The boulders began their counterattack by casting Magnara, a boulder appearing above both Hua Po and Ra. Lydia was able to move both her and her Persona away from the attack, but Damien and Ra were not as quick and took the attack. The remaining Shadow got back up and decided it was going to use Mabufu, which neither Lydia nor Damien were able to avoid. Lydia felt the bitter chill of the attack surround her like icy needles stabbing her all over, and fell to the ground from the pain. Damien likewise was knocked down, Ra's weakness being exploited as well by the attack. The Shadow used the opportunity to follow up by going up to her and smacking her with its limb, which predictably felt like being slapped with a piece of wood.

"Ow! Okay! We have _got_ to get rid of that damn tree!" Damien said, shaking off the damage.

"Yeah. Take it down. I'm switching Personas. Power!" Lydia called out to her mirror, which reflected the angel's visage before being consumed in blue flames and bringing him forth.

"Agilao!" Ra executed the attack by focusing in the direction of the Shadow and clapping his hands together, which lit a large fire underneath the Shadow and burned it away.

"Now, use Double Shot!" Ra attacked the boulder that he had gone for before, dealing some more damage to it.

"Magaru." Lydia spoke. Power obliged, sending gusts of green-tinged wind to blow over the boulders. They were sent flying into the air and landed with their masks facing upwards, struggling to get up.

"Let's not waste any more time. Again!" Power thrust his spear towards the ground once more, sending another set of gusts to ravage the Shadows. One of the boulders was torn apart, leaving one more for Damien to attack.

"Gotcha. Take it down!" Ra's one-two punch of Double Shot wiped out the final Shadow, leaving behind quartz seeds for Lydia to peruse. In the background, however, the painting that had been on display had the lone spotlight above it turn blue to match the associated color, illuminating a previously unseen vein of light that went into the wall leading back to the main hub.

"There a cup card in there?" Damien asked. Lydia went up to the silhouettes generated by the cards and found that there was one giving off a blue aura. She went up to it, touched it, and fused it together with a wand card, granting both her and Damien some healing and some additional strength.

"Still stings, though. Hopefully Nathan and Allie had a better time of it than we did. Let's get back to the center." The two of them followed the hallway, now illuminated solely by the deep blue vein of light running along the wall instead of the warm white lights in the ceiling, back to the center where it went into the floor underneath the gate. Nathan and Allie had still yet to return, and F.Z. was presumably still upstairs scouting out the upper floors.

"That seemed like just enough for two people to handle. I think this is probably the fastest way we can do this safely. I wonder if Sycophanta has arrived already... we'll need everyone in order to face even one of them down." A yellow vein of light lit up from down the hall and went into its own section underneath the gate; a few seconds later, Nathan and Allie returned, both of them curious about the beam of light that had appeared.

"Oh, check that out. I guess we need to get all those lights going in order to drop the gate. The Shadows weren't that hard; between the both of us we got all their weaknesses down easy. I think we can take down the others no problem like this." Nathan said.

"The Shadows inside used fire and electricity, which meant half their attacks didn't really bother us. Let me guess: you two fought ice-using Shadows, right? Did they use anything else?" Allie asked, adjusting her glasses.

"Earth. We... sort of took a couple of nasty hits since our Personas were weak to ice, but other than that, F.Z. was right about the Shadows not being overly difficult to deal with. Nathan, top us off. Next, we'll figure out how we'll split for the rest of the rooms so we can clear them as fast as possible." Lydia responded.

"Alright." Nathan used Tepeyollotl's Media to heal the party. F.Z. came down from the second floor, looking back at the gate with its partially assembled unlocking mechanism underneath it.

"Okay, here's what I got. The second floor is like this one, but... it's only three rooms – with the colors white, violet, and an empty frame with no color in it at all. Those Shadows are stronger than the ones on this floor; you guys will probably have to fight them as one group. I also went up to the third floor since there was a gate I could slip through and checked that out. You guys are damn lucky you have me, because that floor is a maze. It's annoying as hell – I could just skip most of it because it puts those gates everywhere, but... ugh, whatever. You'll see what I mean when you get there. Go and kill the rest of those Shadows already! I'll keep a lookout to see if Sycophanta shows their ugly mugs." She disappeared again and blew past the group.

"What's left? If blue was ice and yellow was electricity, then... guess I'm going with red. I can handle fire for sure. Who's coming with me, Nathan or Lydia?" Damien asked. Nathan looked at Lydia and shrugged.

"Doesn't matter to me. What do you think?"

"Well... what else is left? It looks like there's green, brown, and turquoise, which if I had to guess would be wind, earth, and water. Okay. Allie and I will take the earth hallway, and then we'll do the wind one. You guys can handle water after you're done with fire. Got it?"

"Yeah! Water should be no problem for us!"

The group split up once more and came across more rooms with paintings and Shadows guarding them; Lydia saw that not every single painting was of Jacob and/or Lana – the earth painting was of the Houston skyline as if it was seen from a cliff in autumn, and the wind painting looked to be the forest as it was at the dawn of spring, with a sunrise as opposed to a sunset with dew still sitting upon the blades of grass. Everyone made good time clearing out the Shadows, and soon enough all six veins of light converged underneath the black gate and triggered its unlocking mechanism, dropping it into the ground and allowing QIB to continue moving forward.

"F.Z. said that the next floor was like this one, but with half the rooms. Thing is, she said we'd have to stick together since the Shadows are stronger. Man. I hope Jacob's okay up there." Nathan commented as everyone approached the stairs. A breeze blew by everyone and F.Z. materialized in front of them, looking hurried and waving her arms about.

"Get upstairs, now! Someone's coming!" She ran up the stairs, everyone else following suit and rushing to get to the second floor.

"Who? Sycophanta? Is it Corbin?" Damien asked.

"No! I think it might be Valerie! I saw two people show up. Corbin went for the cave, and this really flashy-looking Asian bitch was making her way over here!" It hadn't occurred to Lydia that while they knew her name, QIB had no idea as to what Valerie actually looked like, only that she was a young woman whose Idol probably represented a desire for ostentatious wealth. What kind of Persona would she have been given?

 _I guess we're about to find out... we won't be able to run away from her in a place like this. We'll have to stand and fight!_

"Probably better for us, I think. Valerie has probably never used her Persona before; we'll have the benefits of both experience _and_ numbers against her. We should set a trap! Who says we have to play fair?" Allie said as the group reached the second floor, with a similarly varnished wooden floor and only three hallways, arranged in a triangle formation around the center room. F.Z. grinned and took a position near the staircase.

"I like the way you think, Allie. You guys can call your Personas and hit her with everything you've got! She won't even know it's coming! Hey. I'll piss her off and draw her up here. Get ready!" F.Z. disappeared down the staircase. Lydia took in a deep breath and looked to the others.

"Line up. F.Z. is probably going to shout or something to let us know when to attack. Use your strongest elemental spell – we're going to show her what a Fusion Spell can do." She brought Ophelia to the front of her mind. Defeating Valerie as quickly as possible was their priority; they couldn't afford to fail twice.

 _The mistakes we made are literally coming back to haunt us right now. There's no way I'm going to let Jacob be taken by the Idols, too. I just... wish it didn't have to come to this. We could have saved her. We really **could have,** but now we're going to have to fight her just to make sure we don't lose even more people. I won't let that happen. I can't._


	29. Chapter 27

**September 30, 2015 – Wednesday, Morning – Rainy**

F.Z. reappeared on the first floor, waiting for Valerie to show herself by hiding in one of the darkened hallways. She saw had she had stopped to talk with Corbin – probably figuring out who was gonna go where – before marching over to this weirdo gallery.

"This place reminds me of my _own_ Idol's Nest. Of course, mine was much better looking than this one. But this one isn't bad. Far better than that disgusting, dirty cave that other kid was in." A sharp, haughty voice resounded through the area, and F.Z. watched as Valerie stepped into the room, noticing the already-unlocked gate with the veins of light pouring into that spot on the floor.

She was shorter than Lynne, even with her ridiculously tall, white pointy-tipped heels giving her about four extra inches. She wore a pair of glasses with thin, golden frames that gave her the impression of being a snooty know-it-all. Her black hair was braided down her back, and she wore a large, light brown fur coat that covered a frilly white top and what looked like black leggings towards her ankles. In her left hand was a mirror that reminded F.Z. of Damien's mirror, except the circular shape surrounding the glass looked more like a jagged, golden sawblade rather than a proper depiction of the sun.

"Great. That trollop and her lascivious rabble have already been here. Lovely. Well, looks like I'll have to teach them a _lesson_ about getting in my way..." F.Z. made her move, turning into wind and reappearing in front of Valerie, stopping her for a moment. She pushed her glasses up to her face and looked down at F.Z., glaring at her.

"What? It's... you're that _ghost_ they were telling me about. The Rebel, the one who would rather _die_ than accept her better self! Out of my way, you useless little wisp!" F.Z. shook with anger, wishing that she could just impale that stupid smug face of hers with a quartz lance.

"Oh, just _shut the fuck up!_ You're not gonna do _shit_ to me!" She formed a throwing knife out of quartz and chucked it at Valerie's face before running up the stairs. Valerie raised a hand to block the attack, the quartz shattering upon impact. She brushed her hand against her coat, unfazed whatsoever by F.Z.'s attack.

"Is that it? You're just going to _run?_ Where do you think you're going to _go,_ little wisp? You _and_ your band of miscreants will all _pay_ for your insolence!" Valerie charged after her. The sounds of her heels clicking against the stairs told F.Z. that QIB's gambit was working, and decided to shout something right before she reached the top of the staircase.

"I'd like to see you _try_ and stop us, bitch! You won't stand a chance!" She disappeared into the wind so as to get out of the way of the oncoming attack from her allies. They had lined up and each summoned their Personas at the signal.

"Ready..." Lydia said, Ophelia charging up Aques in front of her. In a second, the fur coat appeared in their view, and Valerie was visible before them.

"Fire!" Aques, Agilao, Magnara, and Zionga were all released simultaneously at the point Valerie had reached. Her eyes widened for a brief moment as the four elements converged on top of her: the large boulder of Magnara was split apart by the lightning bolt of Zionga, and reacted sharply with the wave of Aques and the plume of flame from Agilao, throwing her back down the staircase and sending her rolling back down onto the first floor.

" _A masterful technique. Let us call it... Thunder Breaker."_ Tepeyollotl spoke as he dissipated, along with the other Personas.

"Ha! You _suck!"_ F.Z. shouted, approaching the staircase again.

"What do we do now? Do we go down and fight her?" Allie asked. Lydia knew that Valerie's job was to get to Jacob, the same as theirs... and unless there was some other way up there that they hadn't found, she had no choice but to come back up here.

"Why? She's gotta come through _us!_ Let's just hit her with the same Fusion Spell again!" Damien said.

"Do you think she'd fall for the same thing twice, though?" Nathan wondered aloud. They all looked to Lydia for their next course of action.

"What the...? Hey!" F.Z. said as she looked down the staircase and saw Valerie reach into her coat, muttering to herself and pulling out a miniature mirror that she shattered in her hands. Instead of summoning a Persona, shattering the small mirror caused an invisible field to flicker around Valerie briefly before disappearing. F.Z. ran back to the group.

"She put some kind of barrier on herself. I don't know what it does, but she doesn't look like she's gonna back down. What's the plan?" Lydia let out a breath.

 _Nathan has a point. Even if she was taken by surprise once, she wouldn't let it happen again. That barrier will probably let her withstand our attacks, which means we have to break through it. She doesn't have any other way up here but the staircase. What kind of barrier is it? Is it just meant to reduce damage, or is it like the natural resistance Shadows have to certain attacks?_

"Her barrier might be the kind that nullifies a certain kind of attack, like how some Shadows are able to ignore certain elements. Instead of a Fusion Spell, let's just all hit her with our individual attacks. We'll see which ones work."

"Alright. Fine with me." Damien said. The group brought forth their Personas and waited for Valerie to show herself again. The moment they saw a sign of that fur coat appear, each of them fired their respective elemental spell. Valerie reached the top of the stairs as Ophelia's Aques hit her. The wave of water impacted against the barrier and was reflected back at Ophelia, who crossed her arms and took the hit from her own spell.

Three more spells came after that; Damien's Agilao seemed to do very little to her, while Allie's Magnara and Nathan's Zionga struck her and made her cringe with pain, but otherwise didn't seem to exploit any weaknesses.

 _So that kind of barrier reflects one spell... good thing Ophelia is resistant to her own element – good thing we didn't attempt the Fusion Spell again! If **that** had gotten thrown back at us, that would've probably knocked me unconscious!_

"Ugh! Are you done? I should've known you would've resorted to dirty tactics like that! That means I'm not going to play nice with you now... Midas! It's time to show them your golden touch!" Valerie brought her mirror in front of her face, seeing the reflection of a brown-haired king in place of her own. The mirror was consumed in red fire, and the king manifested before QIB. Unlike Gilgamesh, who was built and dressed like a warrior, Midas was clothed in opulent, garish red robes that had golden edges all along them. He had a golden crown encrusted with many different jewels, and held a golden scepter with a spherical crystal at its tip.

"Mahama!" Midas looked down at the group of teenagers before him and took his scepter in both hands. He focused upon the crystal, which let out a flare of golden light that created a large circle with intricate runic designs underneath QIB that was quickly completing itself around them.

"Get out of the circle!" Lydia shouted, beginning to run backwards. She leapt out of the circle as it finished, releasing a blast of golden light within its borders. She heard Allie scream and whirled around to see that she had been caught by the light. Allie fell to the ground, unable to move or do anything else. The others had been able to evade the circle, and Valerie stepped forward to claim the ground that the circle of light had given her.

"Allie!" Damien ran forward and picked her up, taking her away from the approaching Valerie. She was very much out of commission, that light-based attack having taken her down in one shot. He shot a glance at Lydia, who had been holding the group's Revival Bead. She looked back at him for a moment and nodded.

"F.Z.! Take the Revival Bead and give it to Allie. We'll keep her away from you two." Damien let Allie down onto the floor behind Nathan and Lydia. F.Z. rushed over and took the Revival Bead from her, and went over to Allie to use it on her.

"How annoying." Valerie remarked at the sight. Damien returned to the front line and clenched his fists, seething with anger at the woman that had effortlessly taken down his friend.

"Annoying? You'll pay for what you did to Allie! Ra!" Damien's mirror shattered before him, his eyes beginning to glow with his resolve.

"Bring her _down._ " Ra charged at her, intending to give her a one-two knockout punch. Midas intercepted the attack for her, but Ra's aim was such that the first punch knocked Midas off balance, and the second sent him flying into the wall, where he dissipated. Valerie herself groaned in pain as the blows knocked her down.

"You... little _bastard..._ " She muttered. Lydia wondered what Midas's weakness was. If he used a light attack, then perhaps darkness would be effective – except no one had any attacks that used it, even her. The only thing they knew at the moment was that fire wouldn't work that well.

"Nathan! Let's see what happens when we combine water and electricity! Damien, follow up after us."

"Got it! Hey, Val! Who are you calling _little?_ You're probably shorter than Allie without those shoes of yours!" Nathan called out as he summoned Tepeyollotl. His Zionga and Ophelia's Aques met simultaneously on top of Valerie, which sent a chaotic burst of lightning through her body, making her scream in pain. Damien grinned as Ra came up to her and punched her in the face, knocking her glasses off and scattering them across the floor.

" _That attack was exceptionally strong; it is as if you struck her with three bolts from Zionga at once. Let's call that spell Short Circuit."_ Ophelia spoke aloud.

"Why? Why did I get stuck having to deal with the _brats?!_ " Valerie moaned, getting up from the floor. She briefly looked to where her glasses had fallen and decided she would pick them up later – it's not like she needed them to see, anyway.

In the back, F.Z. had managed to successfully revive Allie. She was able to get back on her feet, feeling pretty beat up from that light attack that had instantly taken her down. Medusa had informed her upon her revival that her weakness to light meant that they would have to be exceptionally careful against enemies that used it in the future. Allie noticed that one of the hallways had a white square above it; she wondered if that didn't mean there were light-using Shadows (as ironic as that sounded, now that the idea was in her mind) in there. That would have to wait; Valerie was still standing, and they couldn't move on until she had been defeated.

"Are you okay? Can you still fight?" F.Z. asked.

"I'm fine. Thanks for bringing me back." Allie went back to the front line to continue fighting.

"Everyone. That attack, Mahama – it'll instantly knock you out if it connects. Avoid it at all costs!" She explained to them. Valerie brought her mirror back in front of her face and summoned Midas again.

"How about _this?_ Heat Wave!" Midas swung his scepter out towards the group, sending out a blast of energy that connected with every single Persona-user.

" _That attack dealt physical damage. It must have been misnamed."_ Ophelia spoke within Lydia's mind. She turned to the rest of the group to see that Nathan had been affected in a way the rest of them hadn't – he had been turned into a gold statue, frozen in place and unable to act.

"What the... you've gotta be kidding. Of _course_ a Persona named Midas can turn people into gold. Damn it. It's like petrification all over again!" Damien complained. Allie sighed. This was consuming too much of their resources. They still had several more floors to clear _and_ an Idol to deal with!

"You're right on the _money._ " Valerie stopped to laugh at her joke, which angered the active members of QIB. She then suddenly changed her expression and scowled at them, waving her right arm out in a threatening manner.

"You'll all end up just like him!"

"I think I've had it up to _here_ with this bitch. Lydia, Damien, Allie, shut her up." F.Z. said from the sidelines.

"Yeah. Allie, use Rakunda. I'll find out what her weakness is. Damien... just keep doing what you're doing." Lydia searched through her mind for a Persona that used ice – there was still wind that Valerie and Midas could possibly be weak to, but if she was resistant to fire and water didn't seem to do anything special to her, ice was her best guess.

"Okay. Medusa!" Allie's mirror was consumed in blue flames as her Persona appeared before her. Her eyes flashed with purple light, and Valerie cringed as she felt her defenses weaken.

"Jack Frost! Bufula!" Lydia brought forth the icy Magician, who clapped his hands together and caused a crystal of ice to form around Valerie. She reacted too late, the crystal shattering around her and chilling her to the bone. She shivered before falling over once more, groaning in both pain and annoyance. Unlike before, she didn't make any sort of remark towards them – she looked like she was about to give out.

"Ha! Now we'll show you what happens when you screw with us!" Damien shouted. He looked to Lydia to see what she would call out next.

"Allie, it's you and me! Damien, I'll let you deal the finishing blow."

"It'll be my pleasure."

Lydia and Allie focused their attacks onto Valerie: the falling boulder from Magnara was surrounded in the ice of Bufula, causing a giant icicle to crash into Valerie's stomach. She twitched, and then tried to get up onto her feet, but fell back down onto the wooden floor. Damien took this chance to kick her while she was down: he had Ra copy a kicking motion of his to send Valerie rolling across the room. She turned around so that she was facing the ceiling, and let out a soft moan from the beating she had just received.

"And _stay down!_ " Damien shouted. Lydia noticed that Nathan was still stuck as a gold statue, and began to wonder how much longer they would have to wait before the unique petrification wore off. Valerie still looked like she was conscious, so she went over to her and crouched down next to her. She turned her head away from Lydia, closing her eyes and beginning to cry.

"...he didn't tell me... that it would hurt so much." She mumbled.

"What?" Lydia said, surprised at Valerie's reaction to being defeated. She thought that perhaps she'd vow revenge or something, continuing her relentless spew of insults even as she lay beaten on the floor. She wasn't expecting her to start _crying._

"Go away. You won. Go... save that kid from his Idol, or whatever. Just leave me alone!" Damien and Allie walked over to them, with F.Z. appearing in a breeze. Damien sighed, not feeling very sympathetic.

"Just tell us how to fix Nathan." He said. Valerie closed her eyes and grumbled,

"It wears off, but it takes a while. You're... better off healing him. Now _leave me alone."_ F.Z. noticed Valerie's glasses still laying on the floor nearby. She went over and crushed them with her quartz shoe, kicking the shards away and picking up the leftover frames. Lydia watched as she came over with the broken frames and put them on Valerie, who cringed and shook her head trying to get them off of her.

"You dropped these." F.Z. said nonchalantly. Lydia saw Damien's smirk and Allie's neutral expression and wondered if she was the only one that was starting to feel _bad_ for Valerie.

 _She's our enemy now, but... she didn't have to be. We could've saved her, but instead this is what happened. How do we even know she wants to be here? If Lynne wasn't so enthusiastic about it back in the real world, how do we know Valerie isn't like that, too?_

"I'm sorry." Lydia found herself saying. F.Z. raised an eyebrow at her, wondering why she was apologizing.

"Why are you apologizing? You've got nothing to say sorry for! She was trying to _kill us!"_

"We failed her, F.Z.! It's _our fault_ she's here. If we had gotten to her before Lynne and Corbin did, she wouldn't have become our enemy!" F.Z. sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Is it our fault she followed us here? No one _forced her_ to do this! She came here because she wanted to be a part of Sycophanta. Ain't that right?" She lightly kicked Valerie in the head.

"I wouldn't have joined your... stupid little group anyway. Those two... didn't need to convince me of anything." Lydia closed her eyes, processing the idea that there actually were people who didn't want to be saved. She turned away from everyone, and focused on the still-golden Nathan who was probably going to have to have things explained to him once he finally came out of that stasis.

"You see? She never wanted to help us, anyway! She deserves everything we've done to her. Isn't that right, Damien? Allie? I'd ask Nathan, but he's still stuck like that." Allie paid attention to Lydia's expression over the others'. She looked as if she hadn't just tried to sympathize with the enemy – she was staring at Nathan as if he really _was_ a golden sculpture and she was taking in the details with a careful eye.

"No doubt. She might not have known Sycophanta was a thing when she was pulled in here, but she jumped at the chance to join them once she learned they existed. I have no regrets." Damien answered F.Z.'s question. Allie turned her attention from Lydia and looked F.Z. in her flickering, translucent eyes.

"We didn't know she didn't want our help. And even if we did... that doesn't mean we shouldn't have tried, but we can't go back and redo that day. Now that Valerie's chosen a side, she'll have to live with the consequences. She knows that. She's not stupid. Ultimately, I think we did what we had to do." The sound of cracking metal was heard behind them – which turned everyone's attention to where Nathan was. After long enough, the golden petrification had finally worn off on its own, Nathan clumsily breaking out of the golden shell he had been encased in and quickly looking around to get his bearings.

"What's going on? Ugh, I can't believe that just happened! I was frozen for- oh. It, uh... looks like you guys took care of her already. Nice!" Lydia went up to him and brushed off the remains of the golden husk that still clung to him.

"Thanks, Lydia. I guess that means we can keep going, huh? Which hallway are we going down first? I remember F.Z. said we had to stick together for these." Lydia quietly looked around and pointed to the hallway with the violet square above it.

"Oh, alright. What are we gonna uh, do about _her?_ " Nathan pointed to the fallen Valerie, who had closed her eyes and appeared asleep to him. Lydia began to walk off in the direction of the indicated hallway, which was opposite where Valerie was laying.

"Don't worry about it. Let's go. We've wasted enough time already." She said in a dull, almost monotone voice. The rest of QIB gave each other puzzled looks, but followed along with her anyway. Nathan wondered about what had happened while he was out. Allie had been revived, for sure, and the others had soundly defeated Valerie without suffering too much more for it, but... Lydia's attitude had changed. From what, he had no idea.

Maybe it was something Valerie had said to her.

* * *

 **A/N: Since I didn't get around to it last update, whoever it was that left that guest review of Chapter 25, thanks. It'll probably be a while before Junebug shows up again, but he hasn't gone anywhere.**


	30. Chapter 28

**September 30, 2015 – Monday, Morning – Rainy**

The remaining Shadows on the second floor went by fairly quickly after that; now that QIB was familiar with attacks that could instantly knock someone out if they landed, they were able to plan around the Shadows that used them. In fact, it had been the last hallway on that floor – the one with no color whatsoever – that had given them the most trouble.

"I didn't think tiny little gloves like that could pack such a big punch." Nathan remarked as everyone returned from down that hallway to see the gate drop for them. Valerie had disappeared in the meantime, likely having retreated after being outmatched.

"I hope we don't run into any more Shadows like _that_ in this dungeon. What the hell, though? Ra told me that attack they used when they were about to die was called _God's Hand._ He said that if that had actually connected on any of us, we would've dropped from full strength to unconscious in an instant. Good thing those white gloves had the aim of blind donkeys." F.Z. moved to the front of the group and spoke about the upcoming floor as everyone went up the stairs.

"Okay, so you know how I told you this floor's kind of a bitch, right? Let me explain how it works. There's a bunch of paintings scattered around this maze. Each one is next to a gate, and there's this touchscreen underneath them asking some sort of question about it. I tried messing with it and it looks like you have to answer the question correctly or else Shadows attack you. Even more annoying is that if you mess up a question, the paintings all change positions and you get asked a different question!"

"We'll just have to not make any mistakes, then. You know the quickest way through this floor, F.Z. Lead the way." Lydia spoke, her words clear but lacking in the energy that she had when coming in here. F.Z. nodded and guided them into the maze that made up the third floor of the dungeon. After going down the entrance hallway, she led them to the right at a junction that split in three directions. At the end of that particular corridor was a painting of a summer day by a swimming pool at someone's home, with a conspicuous silhouette marked in the image. On the touchscreen underneath the image, the question it asked of its visitors was this:

"Who was it that stood out the most at that pool party last summer?" Beneath the question were four different girls in swimsuits, each of them in the same pose that the silhouette in the painting was in.

"See, I don't know crap like that. These questions seem to rely on knowledge about Jacob's personal life." F.Z. remarked. Lydia went up to the touchscreen and found the girl that looked like Lana, and pressed the button with her image. The touchscreen let out a cheerful chime and brought her image to the front of the screen to the exclusion of the others, filling in the silhouette within the image. Then, a voice clip played through a speaker in the screen:

"I remember how breathtaking she was in that white bikini. I couldn't take my eyes off of her." The voice sounded exactly like Jacob's – the real Jacob's. The touchscreen went dead and the nearby gate dropped into the floor, allowing the group to continue.

"I wonder how long he was with her. I'm gonna guess at least since summer started if he has a memory of her in a bikini, so about... three months, I guess?" Nathan thought aloud. Damien crossed his arms and sighed.

"I guess. What are we going to say to this guy once we get to him? Nathan, he probably doesn't want to see you after you tried to stop him from ending up in here, and for the record, I've never had a girlfriend before, so hell if I know what to say to another guy after a breakup. All I have are cliches like 'There are plenty of fish in the sea.' or 'You can do better than her.' or 'Bitches be crazy.', and I'm certain that last one is not gonna fly with someone like him." Allie giggled at his words. She adjusted her glasses and thought about the question.

"Well... Lydia told us that Lana was the one who broke up with him. According to what she heard, Lana wasn't really pleased that she had to be the one leading the relationship. She had to do everything. But if this dungeon with all its Lana-centric paintings has told us anything, it's that Jacob is very creative and really emotional. He's probably just looking for someone to soothe him."

The group came up to the next painting, which featured a scene from a familiar store within the Halborne Mall. The group recognized the ivory and golden colors as belonging to Everlasting, and Jacob was depicted holding a silhouette of several clothes while Lana posed wearing a silhouette of some particular outfit. The both of them looked very happy in the image, Jacob unable to hold back a smile even though the pile of clothes he was holding looked heavy. The question on the touchscreen read as follows:

"What were the kinds of clothes that she bought?" Below were several pairs of different kinds of clothes. Allie and Lydia remembered their time in Everlasting and recalled that while there were plenty of different styles available there, there was only going to be one out of the four choices on the screen that was right. It was hard for Lydia to forget the kind of clothes Lana wore: expensive, bright, flashy to the point of being ostentatious. It was therefore a no-brainer as to which one was the answer – and she picked the pair of clothes that were colorful and complicated. The touchscreen replied happily with its chime and filled in the missing parts of the image before playing another voice clip.

"It didn't matter that my arms hurt after carrying around all those clothes. It was worth it to see her so happy." The touchscreen turned off and the gate dropped into the floor. There was a four-way junction, and F.Z. thought for a moment before choosing a direction. She decided to lead everyone straight ahead.

"So, are we getting close to the stairs yet?" Nathan asked.

"If you guys can get through this one, there's just one more after it. And before you ask why I haven't told you anything about what's on the fourth floor, it's because the doors to it at the top of the staircase are sealed tight. I can't get through them, but I noticed a panel with a bunch of lights in it and figured getting through this maze would unlock the doors. The Idol's definitely up there, though." Everyone stopped in front of another painting, gate, and touchscreen.

This one depicted Lana sitting behind the driver's seat in what was the blocky, rectangular silhouette of some kind of car. Jacob was running across a front yard, trying to get to her as quickly as he could. Rather than acknowledging him, however, Lana simply looked ahead, looking somewhat annoyed. The question about this painting read like this:

"What was the kind of car that she drove?" Four cars appeared below, all of them vastly different in their appearance. One was a small, two-door sports car, another was a four-door sedan, the third was a box-shaped car, and the last one was a white-and-pink pickup truck with a full-sized bed. F.Z. caught a glimpse of the choices and scoffed.

"Ugh, I actually ran into this one when I was figuring out what was up with this floor. It's not the sports car. I just made a random guess, the thing buzzed at me and switched the paintings, and then Shadows appeared behind me. Of course, I don't exist to them, so after a while they just disappeared back into the floor."

"Not the sports car, huh..." Lydia mumbled as she considered which of the remaining three choices was correct. That oddly-colored pickup truck caught her eye. It wouldn't surprise her if Lana's taste in vehicles matched her taste in clothes – and a big, bright truck like that would certainly draw anyone's attention, far more so than the bland black sedan or the silver box-shaped car that was often touted as being good on gas mileage.

She picked the truck. Allie chuckled a little as the touchscreen happily confirmed that was the correct answer, dropping the gate and playing another voice clip.

"I wouldn't ever dream of owning a truck like that, but... she always knew how to leave her own mark on everything she did." Jacob's voice began to sound melancholy, rather than wistful and happy as it had in the previous two instances.

"Lana's the one who drives that? I've seen that truck in the parking lot and wondered whose it was. I thought it might've been some girl who was into hunting with her dad or something." Allie remarked, smiling at the idea of Lana getting in and out of that thing. Damien put his hands behind his head and looked at the wall to the side as everyone began to move forward again.

"I want to know why these two were even a thing. They're way different from each other. I don't see why Jacob would be into high-maintenance girls like Lana and I have no clue how someone like him even managed to _talk_ to her, much less get her interested enough in him to be his girlfriend. I think there's something fishy about this. Maybe she was just playing him the whole time, like some kind of long, drawn-out prank." Lydia wondered about the same thing. Perhaps they would have their answers once they reached the fourth floor and met up with Jacob and his Idol.

"I wouldn't be surprised. That guy looked barely older than me, and Lana is what, like seventeen or whatever? After getting an idea of what she actually is like in the real world, she really does come off as some stuck-up bitch that probably thought it would be funny to make some loser freshman her slave." F.Z. said. Lydia felt something off about that assessment, though: was that _really_ the case? If the point was just to make fun of Jacob for his size and interests, would dating him for at least a month or so be the best way to do that?

"Look! There are the stairs on the other side of the gate. We're almost there." Allie said, pointing to the staircase beyond the gate and the final painting.

The last painting between QIB and the staircase showed something radically different from the otherwise-realistic snapshots that they had encountered before: this painting was of a massive crater on the moon, where the sun's light shone down into it and lit up its interior. At the center of the crater was a crumpled-looking Jacob laying on his back in the clothes he had been wearing right before being pulled into the valley, overlooked by a Lana with her hands on her hips and wearing a long, flourishing white robe with tattered edges. Unlike the other paintings, there was no silhouette to be filled in this time. The question the touchscreen asked about this one read like this:

"Why did she have to leave?" There was no selection of four choices this time, but instead there was a blank spot for what looked like some kind of text response. Adjacent to it was a speaker icon, meant to record an auditory response in place of a text-based one. F.Z. crossed her arms and frowned at the touchscreen.

"Yeah... this one's stupid. It's the only one that doesn't change positions if you answer its question wrong. Of course Jacob or whoever actually designs these places would put the hardest question at the end. How the hell are we supposed to answer a question like that?" She complained. Damien rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall next to the touchscreen.

"Well, let's think about it from Jacob's point of view. Literally everything in this dungeon has been about things that he thinks are important. Look at the freaking painting. Even when they're in outer space, he still sees himself as he does in the mirror, and Lana is this lunar goddess or whatever. He probably thought he wasn't good enough for her, and that's why she left. But hell if I know what's actually going through that guy's head. Don't put in an answer until you're sure about it, or else we'll have to waste time fighting Shadows."

"That's what I was thinking, too. Jacob idolized Lana." Allie paused to briefly cringe at the unintended pun she had just made, which Nathan had noticed by shaking his head and trying not to smile.

"As I was saying... if you really stop and think about what this whole place represents, it's nothing short of amazing. All of these paintings are incredible. I don't know how good Jacob is at painting in the real world, but this dungeon was made from what was inside him, the same way all of ours were. Do you remember what his Idol said to us at the beginning? Even after seeing everything that we saw, it wasn't enough to convince Jacob that he was worth something. He really doesn't think that highly of himself." Nathan shrugged, looking at the painting and trying to derive some kind of deeper meaning from it.

"Sounds pretty solid. Uh, I guess he's in a crater on the moon because that's what he feels like right now, I guess? I mean, now that I think about it, this is like some outer space version of what Lydia and I saw when Lana actually broke up with him. What y'all have been saying about him feeling like he's not worth much makes a lot of sense. I think that might be the answer. Lydia?" He gestured to the group's leader. She spent a moment in silence, her holds folded together as she thought about the answer.

 _He didn't think he was good enough for her. Was that why he was willing to put up with her, because he thought she was worth the trouble? But... is that actually the answer to the question? Do we **really** know why he thought she left? I guess there's only one way to find out._

She pressed the speaker icon, which beeped and prompted her to give a response. She took in a deep breath and spoke as clearly as she could.

"You... didn't think you were good enough for her, did you? That's why she left, because to her, you weren't good enough." The touchscreen took a moment to process her response, putting the group on edge in those several seconds.

It chimed, lighting the whole screen green in affirmation. The gate fell into the floor, and Jacob's voice once again spoke through the touchscreen.

"I don't _understand!_ What more should I have done for her? I'm not like other guys, I know! I'll never be like _them..._ that's what she really wanted! She probably wanted some guy like that jock, Nathan!" Nathan froze as he heard his name mentioned by Jacob. He sighed, falling back to the rear of the group as they all began to progress towards the stairs.

"Well, damn. He really _doesn't_ like me. Why is he mad at _me,_ though? I was just trying to help!"

"He's not thinking straight. Don't blame yourself." Lydia said to him as the group ascended the stairs. At the top was the entrance to the fourth floor, with a large set of doors the only thing separating the group from Jacob, his Idol, and whatever his Idol had prepared. There was a panel next to the doors with a bunch of green lights in it, indicating that the door was now unlocked. Lydia turned to face the rest of the party and said:

"Nathan, I want you to stay here behind the doors until it's time to fight. F.Z., stay right in front of the doors so you can pull Nathan in when we're ready. Allie, Damien... let _me_ do the talking this time." Everyone could see that she had turned her head away from them as she finished her sentence, as if she was trying not to acknowledge that their eyes were on her. Lydia turned around and opened one of the doors, walking through into a dark room that took up the whole floor and seeing Jacob's Idol standing underneath a spotlight, with a massive structure almost as wide as the room itself covered by a tarp. Next to that spotlight was a raised stool where the real Jacob sat, blindfolded.

" **Finally, they have arrived! I had hoped you all would not disappoint. See, Jacob! These people have proven that they are capable of appreciating your brilliance; otherwise, they would not have been able to make it through this museum. Behold, the lady and her friends..."** He moved to untie Jacob's blindfold, showing him Lydia, Allie, and Damien as they walked into the visibility provided by the single spotlight. Jacob squinted to make out their faces, rearing back a bit in the stool as he recognized Lydia.

"You... why... how did you get here?" He asked her. His Idol put a hand on his shoulder and diverted his attention away from the QIB members, turning him around towards the massive structure with the tarp covering it.

" **Worry not about how they got here! They will be witnesses to what I am about to show you! For you see, as they have been making their way through this presentation of your creativity and passion, I have been hard at work making a masterpiece that will once and for all convince you that I am truly what I say I am – the man you've always wanted to be."** He reached into his pocket and pulled out a remote control device with a single red button on it.

" **Now, behold the potential I can grant you!"** He pressed the button and a line of spotlights turned on as the tarp was pulled back, revealing what the structure truly was: a massive mural, one that looked like it should've taken far longer than the time QIB spent getting up here to create. Everyone in the room was silent as they took in what the mural depicted.

It was a timeline of Jacob's life, visualized from his current state as a teenager all the way until he was dead and buried in a cemetery somewhere. From left to right, he was shown growing older, wiser, more good-looking and more outgoing, with many new friends that would stay with him throughout his life. He was laughing beside them at a restaurant no one recognized, and then he was proposing to an unknown woman and getting married to her in the next image. He was shown crying over the birth of his children, and proud to see them grown up and living their own lives. He grew old with the unknown woman, her face veiled in white as they renewed their vows for their fiftieth anniversary. Finally, his grave was decorated with a flower bed and many colorful decorations, showing that he had been greatly loved by many people throughout his life.

"Man, that's insane." Damien said in a low voice. Allie had covered her mouth with her hands, feeling like she was going to have to hold back tears at the mural. Lydia looked up at the mural and walked towards it, feeling her steps beginning to shake as a feeling of melancholy began to well up inside her.

"Jacob. Turn around. Listen to me." Lydia said, trying to keep her voice as even as possible. His Idol took note of how close she was getting and took his place next to Jacob, a hand on his shoulder and the other hand waving out at the gigantic mural.

" **A life like this? You deserve it. I know you do, because you're me. You can change the world with the hand that guides your brush, with the mind that tells that hand what to put on the canvas. We can move beyond this painful time into something much, much greater! Don't you see?"** Jacob turned his head to look at his Idol, who was making eye contact and had closed his fist as a sign of his resolve. Lydia jumped in front of the both of them, looking down at Jacob in the stool.

"No! Jacob, that's... you don't know what will happen if you agree to that!" Jacob made a face at her and stood up. He was about the same height as she, and was able to look her directly in the eyes. She saw that he was annoyed by her presence, which was confirmed the moment he opened his mouth.

"And you do? No. Please don't tell me you're going to spew some nonsense about mirrors or disappearances like Nathan did. This place... I know it's unreal, that it's like a dream. But I also know what dreams are like, and this is _too vivid_ to be a dream." Lydia shook, unwilling to accept what was going to happen.

"My friends and I, we have been putting our lives on the line for you. We've seen all the paintings your inner consciousness made. No one I know has _ever_ shown such creative skill as you, Jacob. You are worth so much just as you are! Just because Lana couldn't see that doesn't diminish who you are as a person! You don't need anything else!" Jacob looked between her and his Idol, who was growing displeased with what she was saying.

" **Who are you to say what his needs are? I'm him. I know what he needs, what he _wants,_ more than you do!"** Jacob's Idol rebuked her. Jacob looked past Lydia towards the mural that his other self had created. He wondered if he really _could_ have a life like that, where he would be happy with someone else... if this other him had made it, wouldn't that mean joining him as he had constantly been asking him to do so would give him what he was missing?

"Who are you, anyway?" He asked Lydia.

"My name is Lydia White. I... you probably think that I don't know what it's like to be in your situation. I'm not you, so I won't claim to know how you feel. Just... let me tell you one thing, and then... you can choose what you want to do." Jacob saw how she raised her hands and folded them, how she was practically pleading with him to listen to her. He almost thought she was going to drop to her knees and beg with how she was shaking. If she was going to go to all this trouble, then... it wouldn't hurt to listen to what she had to say.

"What?" Lydia took in a deep breath, and closed her eyes, opening them and looking at the ground. She didn't want to look at him as she asked him the question. She leaned in towards him, and spoke her words quietly, so that only he and his Idol could hear.

"I used to be in love. I used to love a boy so much that I thought we'd be together forever. But... a mistake I made... something I did... we were going to die, but instead... he... he said I was the one who was worth saving. I never saw him again, but... I remember how much I hated those words. He should've lived, but... he wouldn't have given his life for me if what he said wasn't true." Lydia wiped her eyes, trying to look at Jacob and hoping she was getting through to him somehow. Jacob decided to sit down on the stool again, biting his lip and fidgeting, sighing and avoiding eye contact.

"He... died for you? And you were just saying you and your friends were risking your lives... what kind of place _is this?_ Other me, did she have really have to do that?" His Idol paused, unsure of an answer. He leaned in close to Jacob and whispered,

" **Listen, it doesn't matter what she told you. You're the one making the decision, not her. Take my power and I promise you'll never experience heartbreak like that again."** Jacob saw the expression on his other self's face grow impatient, worried. Something about that ethereal voice and the weight it suddenly carried despite being a whisper was frightening to him. He suddenly questioned why he even needed to do what the other him was saying if all of these paintings really did come from inside _himself._

"I don't think the real me would just _ignore_ something that heartfelt. If that's the kind of person you want me to become - the kind that doesn't listen to someone pouring their heart out to save a stranger, then... I'll find my own way to achieve what's on that mural. You said it yourself, all of this is from me. That means _I don't need you._ " Lydia heard his words and saw his Idol closed his eyes and clench his fists together.

" **I did all of _this_ for you and you say no? I put together the most heartwrenching work of art you've ever _seen_ and then you tell me you don't _need me?_ There's only one thing to do now that you've proven yourself to be utterly obstinate!"**

"Jacob, come on! We have to get away from him!" Lydia grabbed Jacob's arm and pulled him off of the stool. He almost fell over as his Idol was beginning to flash with those familiar black-and-white stripes and its glowing blue aura was turning black. F.Z. finally let Nathan into the room, and Lydia handed Jacob over to the ghost girl as his Idol turned to face everyone.

" **I'll _make you_ see my truth! The convictions of my heart are irresistible!"** Jacob's Idol became encased in a quartz chrysalis. Upon seeing what was happening, Jacob realized that Lydia and her group were in the right; that other self of his wasn't really out to help him at all. The girl that they had given him to seemed to be fading in and out of visibility underneath her clothes, and had led him towards the doors that marked the entrance to the room.

"Good on you for standing up to your Idol. My name's F.Z. You're Jacob, right?" She asked him.

"Y-Yeah. What's going on? What's an Idol?" Jacob said as he watched Lydia's group spread out in a line in front of the chrysalis as it began to grow in size. F.Z. watched beside him as the chrysalis burst open, exposing the Idol's monstrous form and causing the Persona-users to summon their other selves. Jacob moved back in fear as he saw it, rearing up against the doors to the room. F.Z. turned to face him and said:

"If I had the answers to all the questions I've come up with while being stuck in this fucked up place, I'd probably wish I was dead, more than I am already. Just stay here. You'll get your answers sooner or later. Maybe."

* * *

 **A/N: SakuraDreamerz - Good to see you again. Thanks for the following.  
**

 **Cztm - I noticed a lot more OC-centric fics pop up on the front page here in the last couple of weeks. Now I know a lot of them couldn't have possibly been influenced by this story, because their original publishing date is long before this one's. As much as I'd like to think my writing has helped spur the resurgence, ultimately I have no proof of that except by reviews like yours. Thanks for the review, and I hope your story turns out well.**


	31. Chapter 29

**September 30, 2015 – Wednesday, Morning – Rainy**

" **I am an Idol, the epitome of your deepest desires! I know you can hear me, Jacob! You can't run from me!"** The Idol pointed a paintbrush past the Persona-users towards Jacob. He was certainly the smallest one they had faced so far – the chrysalis only grew a little bit before exploding, such that the Idol was now only about a foot taller than he was before.

He had a glowing sigil that looked like a heart inscribed onto his face, one half colored black and the other half colored white, and his clothes had turned into something like a wizard's robes, dark blue and decorated with red trim. He wore a pair of glasses with ivory-colored winged rims that were large enough to almost function as a mask. In one hand he held a paintbrush and in another he held a palette with all the colors that had been used to mark Shadows' affinities in the dungeon.

" **I can see right through your deception!"** His glasses let out a flash of green light that quickly passed through the room, bouncing off of everyone and returning the waves to him. He smiled and dipped his paintbrush into the yellow well on his palette. With a single broad stroke, he spawned four Shadows, each of them resembling floating yellow blobs of paint with arcs of electricity crackling around them. After he was done, he encased himself in a diamond-shaped shield the same green color as his scanning wave.

"He's doing the same stuff his dungeon did! Lydia, watch out!" Nathan glanced at Ophelia. Lydia nodded and dispelled her, bringing up her mirror and calling out Power in Ophelia's place.

"I'll go first! Power, attack!" The armored angel thrust his spear towards the ground. The green-tinged winds of Magaru surrounded each of the electrical paint blobs, the attacks connecting and shaking them all about.

"He's gonna hide behind Shadows, huh? Pathetic!" Damien said, calling on Ra to blast one of the Shadows with Agilao. The attack connected, almost causing the blob to fall from its levitating position.

"We'll probably have to take them out before we can focus the Idol!" Allie brought forth Medusa, casting Magnara on the same Shadow that Damien had targeted. The boulder smashed the blob into a puddle, which quickly dissolved and left three Shadows remaining.

"Got it. I'll show Jacob that I'm one of the good guys..." Nathan muttered. Tepeyollotl jumped at the Shadows and swung his staff around wildly, damaging them but not eliminating any of them.

" **Duplicitous girl, aren't you? You can change your mask whenever you want! Fine, then!"** The Idol spoke from behind his barrier as he commanded the Shadows to attack Damien. The first one bubbled for a second before bursting, sending a bolt of lightning that struck Ra and caused Damien to cringe from the sparks running through him. The other two followed suit by doing the exact same move; now that Damien could see how they telegraphed their attacks, he was able to dodge the next two.

"Come on! You're being predictable!" He taunted the Idol. The Idol frowned at him, but offered no other response.

"Power, Magaru!" Lydia called out. This time, the attack wiped out all of the remaining Shadows, leaving the Idol as the only remaining target.

"Turn up the pressure! Ra!" Ra clapped his hands and set the barrier aflame, cracking it slightly.

"Medusa!" Medusa made a punching motion towards the Idol and brought down a boulder onto the barrier, cracking it some more.

"Hard to miss a target that can't move! Kill Rush!" Tepeyollotl rushed at the barrier and released a burst of energy in front of it that crackled multiple times against it, until it shattered into pieces and left the Idol without any protection. He glared at Nathan's Persona and backed away from him, focusing on the girl with the white-bordered mirror in the green top and ivory skirt.

" **These tones hold so much sway... don't they?"** The Idol spoke in a calm, soothing voice as he pointed his paintbrush towards Lydia and Allie and swung it back and forth like a conductor's baton. The two girls watched and waited for something to happen before a pink glimmer of light burst from the tip of his brush and instantly caught their eyes, making them glow the same pink color as the pulse of light.

Lydia felt a warm feeling rush through her, filling her up with an intoxicating sense of attraction towards the Idol. Her thoughts turned to mush, and she turned towards the guys that she had just been fighting beside and said,

"They... do, don't they? Why am I _fighting_ him? Nathan! Damien! You two will pay for hurting him!" She summoned Power – who had the same glowing pink eyes as she – and made two wide, sweeping motions with her arms, causing the angel to charge up his spear with light and throw it towards the guys.

"Wait, what? Lydia! What the hell?!" Nathan jumped out of the way of the light-filled spear, which landed in the ground next to Damien. He immediately reacted by diving to the ground, the spear exploding in a burst of light.

"Nathan, look! Their eyes!" Damien pointed at the girls' glowing pink eyes. Allie took hold of her compact mirror and called on Medusa, making an evocative expression by adjusting her glasses with her fingertips while sweeping her other arm outwards.

"Leave him alone! Jacob hasn't done _anything_ wrong!" Allie cried out in a melodramatic voice as Medusa charged Nathan with Viper Strike. He wasn't prepared for the second attack and was knocked back by the impact. He shook his head and let out a breath as he noticed what Damien was talking about: both of the girls' eyes were glowing pink like that pulse of light that the Idol had emitted, and now they were apparently crazy for him or something.

" **Don't think I'm done! You brutes disgust me! _You_ should be afraid of _me!"_** The Idol barked at the guys, making a stabbing motion with his paintbrush and releasing a purple pulse of light that caught the eyes of the two guys, making them glow purple.

"Oh, for fuck's sake..." F.Z. grumbled from the door as she watched the Idol run towards the guys, who both ran away from him in different directions shouting obscenities like horror movie characters as he took up a new position in the room. The real Jacob watched through a crack in the door as his other self made the people that had come to save him look like idiots, hypnotizing the girls and forcing the guys to be scared of him.

"Are they gonna be okay?" He asked, worried that his Idol would do something worse to them. F.Z. said nothing to him and turned into the wind, blowing past Lydia and Allie and reforming right behind Lydia.

" **Now, show me what you're hiding!"** The Idol said, releasing a green pulse of light that scanned everyone again. He nodded as the waves returned to him, and painted into existence four more Shadow paint blobs – a white one, a black one, a deep blue one, and a green one, all with traces of their respective elemental affinities coming out of their bodies.

F.Z. kicked at the back of Lydia's leg, tripping her over and making the Idol wonder how she had fallen. Lydia hit the ground headfirst, the impact dispelling the effect of the charm that the Idol had placed upon her. She rolled over and rubbed her head, looking around to see who had done that before seeing the translucent face of F.Z. above her.

"Get up! The Idol can hypnotize you with the light from that paintbrush! Don't look at it when he uses it!" Lydia got back on her feet as F.Z. moved to do the same thing to Allie, disappearing and then reappearing behind her to kick her leg out and send her plowing into the floor face-first. When Allie recovered, she gave F.Z. an annoyed look and said,

"Thanks, but watch it! I need my glasses to _see_ , which means I can't fall on my face like that!" F.Z. shrugged and looked towards the guys, who had noticed what she did to help the girls out and were looking between her and the Idol.

"Am I gonna have to go over there and beat some manhood into you two?" She said. Damien shook his head, looking back at Nathan.

"Your Persona can get rid of this damn fear, right? Do it! Before we embarrass ourselves any further!" Nathan called on Tepeyollotl and had him channel Me Patra from his staff, curing himself and Damien of the phobia that the Idol had inflicted them with. Now that everyone was back to normal, F.Z. returned to her position at the door.

"Wow. How did you know that would work?" Jacob asked from behind the door. F.Z. turned her head towards the door and said,

"Girls who fall into bullshit attractions like that need some sense beaten into them. It's worked before, and so I thought..." She trailed off. It had worked _before?_ Where? She sighed, realizing that there was yet another piece of her past falling out of her mouth without her seeing it coming.

"You thought...?" Jacob echoed.

"Never mind. Hopefully they don't fall for it again. They're not stupid, but who knows what the Idol's gonna do next."

Lydia saw the Shadows that the Idol had spawned this time; he was trying to target everyone's weakness if the elements floating around the Shadows were any indication. Nathan had already made his move, and considering there were _two_ Shadows with moves capable of instantly bringing someone down... those would have to go first.

"Get rid of the light Shadow! Focus on it!" She changed her Persona back to Ophelia and called her out, casting Aques on the Shadow. Damien and Allie followed up with their respective elemental attacks, taking out the light-based Shadow.

This left the other three Shadows still up, and the deep blue one went first. It bubbled in place before forming ice crystals around Damien, who saw the attack coming and got out of its way as the ice collapsed. The green Shadow decided to do something different, swaying back and forth before sending a Magaru attack at everyone. Nathan in particular couldn't dodge in time, feeling the gusts of wind like sharpened knives cutting at his skin; he fell on his hands and knees, dropping his mirror beside him.

The Shadow then took the extra opportunity to focus a stronger wind attack at Nathan, which enveloped him and tossed him away, hurting him even more. He felt like the world was spinning around him, and closed his eyes to try not to feel nauseous. The final Shadow, the one with tendrils of darkness flowing in and out of its body, turned its attention to the members of QIB that were still standing, and expanded its body outwards, causing a dark heart-shaped sigil to begin forming underneath them. Lydia saw that it had extended towards Nathan, who couldn't move away from it with the rest of the group as the sigil completed and released a pulse of darkness.

"Nathan!" She called out to him, hoping that the attack hadn't knocked him unconscious. Nathan groaned, raising his arm and waving it to show that he was still awake.

"I'm... still up. Ugh. I could use some healing." For one reason or another, the sigil had failed to do anything to him. Now that the Shadows had made their move, it was time for QIB to respond. The wind-using Shadow absolutely had to go down now; Damien seemed to be able to keep up with the ice-using one and the Shadow that had used Mamudo telegraphed its attacks far enough in advance for the group to dodge easily.

"Right! Ophelia, Diarama!" The black-haired Persona appeared in front of Lydia and put her hands together, closing her eyes and channeling healing energy into Nathan. Lydia went over to Nathan and helped him get back on his feet. He glared at the green blob of paint that had put him on the ground and summoned Tepeyollotl.

"You're going _down!_ Zionga!" His eyes flashed with light as his Persona sent a bolt of lightning at the Shadow, striking it down and melting it into a puddle on the ground. He followed up by having Tepeyollotl use Rampage on the Shadows, landing three strikes on the green paint blob and splattering it all over the floor, the dots dissolving into nothing.

"Let's get rid of that ice Shadow before it actually lands something on me." Damien said. Allie nodded, and Damien started by attacking it with Agilao. The ice crystals floating around the Shadow moved in front of it to try and block the attack, but the flames melted the ice and caused the blob to collapse into a puddle on the ground. Damien smirked and decided to have Ra attack both Shadows at once with Maragi, taking out the deep blue Shadow and leaving only the dark one up.

"Try _this!_ " Allie punched towards the Shadow, and Medusa rushed at it and hit it with Viper Strike, causing the Shadow to jiggle and bubble before turning a purple color. It attempted to respond with an attack, but before it could make the expanding motion, it shuddered before collapsing into a puddle and dissolving. This meant that the Idol was now finally open to attack, and he floated in his barrier scowling at the Persona-users.

"If he's not going to do anything... then it's time for a Fusion Spell, everyone. Get ready! All elementals!" Lydia said. Each Persona was brought forth and charged up their respective elemental spell, waiting for the signal to fire.

"Now!" Water, earth, fire, and electricity all collided upon the Idol's barrier, creating the Fusion Spell known as Thunder Breaker and immediately shattering the barrier in one go. The Idol landed on his feet and brandished his paintbrush, looking at the girls as he began swaying the brush back and forth in the same motion as before.

" **You wouldn't want to kill me, would you...?"** He asked in a pleading voice. Lydia and Allie looked away and closed their eyes as the pink light shone from the paintbrush, casting everything in front of it in a softer tone. Damien and Nathan saw that the Idol continued to channel the ability, hoping the girls would open their eyes thinking it was merely a flash of light.

"Keep your eyes closed! He's still doing it! Don't worry, we'll stop him!" Damien shouted. Nathan sighed, and shot a glimpse towards the door where the real Jacob was watching the battle. F.Z. stood by the door with her arms crossed, looking towards the Idol that was attempting to charm the girls again with narrowed eyes and lowered eyebrows.

"Let's do this. You're up first, Damien!" Nathan said. Damien called on Ra and decided a physical assault was best; his Persona charged for the Idol and delivered the one-two punch of Double Shot directly to his face, stopping the channeling of his spell.

"How about _this?_ Kill Rush!" Tepeyollotl went in after Ra and let loose the sparking burst of energy in front of the Idol, striking him multiple times and knocking him back.

"It's fine, Lydia, Allie! You can open your eyes now." Nathan turned to the girls, who looked up and saw that the Idol was panting, looking visibly strained after just two physical attacks from the guys.

"Without that barrier and the Shadows, he doesn't look like he's got a lot of stamina." Allie remarked. Lydia nodded, and wondered if physical attacks might work better than elemental ones. After all the fighting that they'd had to do so far, their mental reserves were beginning to get low, and while this fight was probably the last one they'd have to do, running out now would probably be a bad idea since that would mean there'd be no more healing aside from that one Life Stone.

"Go physical." Lydia said, bringing Ares to the front of her mind. Her mirror burned up in blue flames and released the warrior Persona.

"Twin Slash!" Ares took his sword in hand and attacked the Idol with it, quickly swinging it back and forth to land two strikes on him.

"Medusa!" Medusa followed up with Viper Strike, which landed but didn't poison the Idol. He was now leaning over, his paintbrush hand on his stomach like he was in pain.

" **That's it! I won't have this kind of dissent from you _anymore!_ "** He dropped the paintbrush and palette and took hold of the winged glasses on his face, letting out a bright blast of green light that caused the Persona-users to look away from it. After the light faded, the Idol shimmered with a white, vibrating aura, and left echoing afterimages as he moved.

" **Nothing you do goes unnoticed. That means... you can't stop me!"** He turned around towards the door where his other self and F.Z. were, and decided to sprint across the room. F.Z. whirled around and shoved Jacob backwards before slamming the doors closed, holding them shut by pushing up against them. The Idol rushed up to the doors and tried to throw them open, but was puzzled by the resistant force that was keeping them closed.

" **How can your resistance be this _strong,_ Jacob?" ** The Idol asked, still trying to get through. F.Z. craned her neck back to see that the rest of QIB was coming up on them quickly, Personas at the ready. They could all see that F.Z. was phasing through the Idol, even with her real-world clothes on. She was struggling to hold the door and not let the Idol through to Jacob, and she shouted,

"Don't just fucking stand there! Hit it! I'll get out of the way, just _attack!_ "

"Alright! Everyone, go!" Ares led the charge, readying his sword for another Twin Slash. F.Z. saw the attack coming and disappeared. The Idol, on the other hand, moved out of the way without ever looking back to see the attack coming, at a speed that was much faster than anyone had expected. Ares's attack hit the door instead, doing nothing.

Ra, Medusa, and Tepeyollotl all attempted to land their respective physical attacks, but the Idol whirled about and weaved out of their moves without ever bothering to look up. As the Personas dissipated back into QIB's mirrors, he turned to face them and shook his head, laughing.

" **What did I just say? Your deception will no longer work on me! You. Can't. Stop me!"** He gathered bright, fluorescent energy in a ball and then launched it at the Persona-users, where it exploded on top of them and spread the energy like a bomb full of needles. The attack felt like white-hot, searing pain, which compared to fire attacks felt much more like a chemical burn rather than a heat-based one.

" _Megido. It is using the most powerful element of all that cannot be resisted: Almighty. We must find a way to defeat it soon, or else we will not have the stamina to last!"_ Ophelia spoke within Lydia's mind, worry apparent in her voice.

"What kind of attack _was that?!_ Was this thing just toying with us the whole time?" Damien asked, standing up straight after being hunched over in pain from the attack. Nathan cringed, wondering if there was anything they _could do_ to defeat the Idol now that it had decided to dodge everything and start using actual attacks.

F.Z. had reformed nearby and saw the Idol use the Almighty attack on the group. Somehow, that thing that had mostly been annoying so far was now actually really threatening, which made her wish even more that she could do _something_ to help out with fighting.

"What are we supposed to do now? If it can dodge everything we can throw at it..." Allie trailed off, not wanting to vocalize the thought that was now on everyone's minds. Lydia looked over towards F.Z., who looked like she was about to start screaming. She blinked.

 _F.Z. The only person that Idols and Shadows have no clue even exists. Jacob's Idol didn't even realize it was her holding the door closed a minute ago. If she could fight, the Idol wouldn't even see her coming, but... her attacks don't work. Or... wait. Her attacks don't work on enemies, but that only goes for direct attacks. She shattered a window in Damien's skyscraper without too much trouble. Maybe she can do something like that here, but what?_

"F.Z! Come over here!" Lydia called out. F.Z. was at her side in a couple of seconds, prompting the Idol to raise an eyebrow and laugh.

" **Who are you calling out to? Are you starting to lose your mind, Lydia? How sad."**

"Fuck you!" F.Z. barked at the Idol. She turned to Lydia afterwards.

"What? Do you have an idea?" Lydia looked around to see what in the room F.Z. might be able to use as a weapon against the Idol. Other than crushing the Idol underneath the gigantic mural, the only thing that F.Z. could possibly do to hurt the Idol would be to collapse the roof on top of it. She leaned in close and spoke quietly to the ghost girl.

"You're the only one the Idol can't see coming. I know you can't hurt it directly, but... if we were to lure it over to the mural, do you think you can use your quartz powers to push the mural over and crush it?" F.Z. looked back at the mural, which was almost like a fourth wall in the room. She sighed, shaking her head.

"Lydia, as much as I'd like to bury that thing in its own stupidity, I don't have super strength. That mural's made out of solid stone – I'd have trouble taking bits of it off, much less trying to push the whole damn thing over. What else do you got?" Lydia looked up at the roof.

"This building is all quartz on the outside, right? If we can... corner the Idol, make it so that has no place to run, maybe we can land a hit on it. That means..." F.Z. looked up at the ceiling, which was sectioned off in blocks.

"Damn. I see what you mean. You want me to bring the house down, literally. That'd be... I could actually _do that._ If I was in direct contact with the quartz, maybe I can force it to collapse. For all the shit this place has, I didn't see a single window, or vent, or _something_ that would let me get out quickly. It'd take me a couple of minutes to go all the way down and then get back up, and then-"

"Don't worry. We'll make a hole for you. Everyone! We need to break open a hole in the roof!" Lydia pointed to the ceiling, aware that the Idol could hear her. She hoped he wouldn't figure out what they were going to try.

"Listen, I'm gonna collapse the ceiling here so that the Idol can't run away. Don't screw it up!" F.Z. said, forming a quartz shuriken in her hand and tossing it at the ceiling. One of the points stuck in the ceiling, marking the exact spot that she wanted to use for the hole.

"That's crazy, but... guess we have no other choice! Ra, Double Shot!" Damien's mirror burned up in blue flames and brought forth his Persona. Ra rose to the point marked by the shuriken, tilted himself in mid-air so that he was parallel with the ceiling, and then attacked the point. The rock weapon crumbled immediately, and there were visible cracks in that ceiling block.

"Tepeyollotl, you know what to do!" Nathan's Persona went up to the cracked ceiling block and used Kill Rush on it, breaking through the block and exposing the room to the perpetual sunlight of the valley. F.Z. immediately vanished and went up through the hole in the ceiling.

"Allie, here! Use the Life Stone!" Lydia tossed the gem to her. Allie focused on the energy inside the stone and felt her stamina recharge, causing the stone to evaporate. Lydia didn't have Senri anymore, so she couldn't use Media to heal the whole group like she would've preferred. Instead, Ophelia's Diarama would have to suffice.

"We need Nathan's healing, too. Ophelia!" Ophelia healed Nathan. The Idol scoffed and moved over to the spot where the sunlight was shining into the room.

" **Do you think I'm just going to let you escape? There _is_ no escape – not for you, and not for Jacob, either!"** The Idol charged up another Megido attack, which was so expansive that none of the Persona-users could avoid it even though they knew it was coming. Damien put his hands on his knees, feeling exhausted.

"Nathan, use Media. I'll take care of Damien."

"Right." After both rounds of healing went off, the group was feeling better – but they knew they were going to run out of energy before the Idol would, and hoped F.Z. would come through for them.

The ceiling above them then suddenly fell in, the entire thing collapsing in an instant. The Idol attempted to move away, but was buried in rubble along with QIB. F.Z. dropped into the room and let out a long, loud curse at seeing that everyone – ally and enemy – had been covered in rubble.

"Damn it, guys, I didn't think I'd make the whole thing cave in! Get up! Before the Idol does!" She looked over to the door and saw that it was blocked by rubble. She made her way past the rubble to see if Jacob was okay. She opened the door and saw that she really had collapsed the _entire_ ceiling, meaning Jacob had been hit by falling rubble as well.

" **Nnnn... what? How?"** The Idol groaned as he rose out of the fallen pieces of ceiling, his shimmering form flickering off and causing him to revert back to his original form as he fell back on the rubble, defeated. QIB pushed the fallen ceiling off of them and stood up, grateful that they had just healed before F.Z. dropped the entire thing on them.

"Sheesh, would've been nice to have a heads up..." Nathan said, rubbing his head. Lydia looked at everyone and saw that they were all covered in dust and had pieces of ceiling in their clothes and hair; they'd have to clean themselves off before leaving back to school. She noticed that the Idol had returned to his original form, and then she shot a glance towards the door. F.Z. shoved it open and dragged an injured Jacob into the room.

"Could use some healing here! Now!" She shouted. Lydia carefully made her way across the piles of rubble and came over to Jacob, who was looking up at F.Z. with a confused expression.

"What... happened? I saw you disappear, and then after... the other me attacked, the ceiling fell in." Lydia called on Ophelia to heal him with Diarama, which froze up Jacob for a second as he was not used to having the pain evaporate away in seconds. He looked over at Lydia and sat up, wondering just what kind of girl she really was and what was really going on in this crazy place.

"T-Thanks."

"We... had to try _something_ to defeat your Idol. I'm sorry you got hurt by it. Now... Jacob, the only way to make that other you go away is for you to confront it. Look, he's over there." Jacob stood up, and walked over to where his other self was laying on the rubble. Nathan and Damien stepped away, and watched as he talked to his Idol.

" **I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I... knew what you really wanted. How could I have been so wrong? Tell me, please!"** Jacob looked over at the big mural that still stood even after the ceiling had collapsed. Now that the sunlight was shining down on it, it looked even more bright and optimistic than before. Was that really such a bad thing to want...?

"You know... you weren't as wrong as you think. I _do_ want that kind of life. It seems like a dream come true. Thing is... dreams don't come true that quickly. You were like a genie, trying to convince me to make a wish. If I took your offer, I would've gotten it without having to work for it, without actually improving myself. I still _want_ to live a life full of love like the one you depicted, it's just that I want to earn it, too. I want to feel like I've actually grown into the man you showed me up there." The Idol broke eye contact and looked towards the sky, smiling.

" **To shoot for the stars, you gotta make it through the clouds first, huh? Okay. I'll do it. You and I, we'll make our dreams come true one step at a time. Thank you for accepting me."** He raised his arms and was burned away in blue flames. In his place, a young man with winged white glasses even larger than the Idol's and feathered wings strapped to his arms came into existence. He had short, wavy brown hair and fair skin, and wore robes with designs resembling a starry sky. A mirror shaped like the palette that the Idol had used floated down in front of Jacob, which he took in his hands as the new figure spoke.

" _I'm Icarus! You and me, we're one and the same. We may not be good at fighting, but our insight is unlike anyone else's! There is no realm that will go unexplored now!"_ Icarus disappeared, now occupying a spot within Jacob's mind. He looked into the wooden, brown palette mirror and saw that his reflection was briefly replaced with that of his other self.

"What just happened?" He asked. Nathan decided to step forward and answer that question.

"That, Jacob, was your Persona. It's the power you have inside you, that's yours now that you made up with your Idol. Listen, man... I hope there's no hard feelings between us. I should've explained myself better back at school. Are we, are we cool?" He extended his hand towards Jacob. Jacob took in a deep breath, and took a moment to let everything that had happened sink in. He saw his own reflection turn into his Idol in the window, then that other self of his showed him all those paintings, and then Lydia, Nathan, and the others in their group saved him from making a terrible decision.

That fight was crazy, and ended in a way he wasn't expecting. After all that... what Nathan had tried to do didn't seem all that big of a deal anymore.

"Yeah. Yeah, we're cool." He shook Nathan's hand. F.Z. then cut in to look him over, to make sure that he wasn't still wounded.

"Great. We won this time, great. Let's get out of this place already." Lydia looked for the Goho-M on her person and activated it, bringing everyone back to the entrance of the museum, which now lacked a roof. Jacob blinked, briefly surprised at how some odd sphere had managed to warp them out of the building, but figured there was probably still a ton he didn't know yet about this place – which, as it turned out, looked nothing like the city of Quartz besides the deposits of its namesake scattered about.

The group explained to Jacob what they knew about the valley, as well as about the Idols, Personas, Shadows, and Sycophanta. When they got back to the entrance, F.Z. held off on opening a portal back to the real world.

"You guys look like crap. You should probably do something about that." Everyone looked at each other and realized that yes, showing up back at school covered in pieces of destroyed building would raise more questions than they were comfortable answering.

"Well... we all _were_ wearing different clothes when we came in here. We were going to change back anyway, right? Let's just do that now." Nathan said, eyes on Lydia. He noticed that she was looking in the direction where that quartz cave had been, and saw that it was now gone.

"Oh, yeah. There was... someone else." He muttered. There hadn't been a way for QIB to save two people at once, and that was now confirmed with the disappearance of the other dungeon.

"We won... but we also lost another person. F.Z." Lydia said, her voice quiet. F.Z. pursed her lips and rose the quartz structure to let QIB change back into their other clothes. Lydia took the enchanted clothes back into the Velvet Room, and spent a moment looking down at the ground with her arms crossed and a sad look on her face.

"I don't know what we're doing. We're just... lucky. Lucky that we show up at the right place, at the right time. If Nathan hadn't brought me up to the second floor, we wouldn't have seen the breakup, which means we would never have known Jacob was missing until it was too late. I feel like... we're slowly losing this battle, and I don't know what to do about it." No one said anything. Jacob saw the hurt in Lydia's eyes and came up to her.

"Hey, um... if it helps any... I'm really glad you were there. I think you're a hero, Lydia. A heroine, I mean. What you and your friends are doing is amazing. I think... well, no – I _know_ that I was given the power of Persona to make the world a better place. Which means... I'll join you. You went to such lengths for me, so now I want to do the same for you. I'll go to the stars and back for the people that saved me." Lydia looked back at him, their eyes looking into one another. There was a sincerity in Jacob's dark brown eyes that was striking, that he really meant every word he said with all of his heart. She now understood a little bit better why Lana might've gotten together with him; he was sweet, honest, and passionate.

"Thank you, Jacob. That helped. I just... hope whoever we left behind will forgive us." Behind her, F.Z. opened a portal back to the real world. Before anyone stepped through, Damien decided to say something.

"So, what are we going to do once we get back? We all have definitely skipped our first class here. It was worth it, for sure, but I do _not_ want to explain to Mr. Marshall what we were doing for however long we were gone." Nathan's shoulders fell as he remembered that today was the day of his physics test.

"Crap, man. I still have to take a physics test today. Ughhhhh. Well, I guess I can go to the library and study or something until first period is over."

"That sounds like probably the best thing for us to do. I don't know where else we could go without being asked too many questions." Allie said, adjusting her glasses and being grateful that they hadn't been broken when the ceiling collapsed. They had been bent, yes, but the lenses weren't cracked and she could just claim she dropped them and they got stepped on or something.

"Okay. Let's go two at a time. Allie and Damien, Nathan and Jacob, and then I'll go by myself. We'll look suspicious if we're all in a group together." Lydia said. The rest of the group followed along with that plan, and staggered their leaving until Lydia and F.Z. were left alone once more.

"Hey." F.Z. spoke, her voice softening from its usual loud volume. Lydia met her eyes, which were still fading in and out as she breathed.

"Next time you get a chance, come back. Alone. I'm starting to remember more stuff and it's bugging the crap out of me." She ran a hand through her hair.

"What kind of stuff?" Lydia asked. F.Z. sighed, and made a fine-toothed quartz comb and began to smooth out her hair, cringing slightly as she ran into knots.

"My past, before I got here. I think I'm finally starting to remember who I was before I ended up in here." She looked worried, as if the occasion of actually regaining her past was not something to look forward to.

"Oh? Okay... oh, man. The rest of this day is going to be rough. We'll all probably be exhausted after our time here. I'll come back as soon as I can, F.Z. Don't worry." The ghost girl nodded, and gestured towards the portal that was about to expire.

"Thanks. You should get going. I'll be... fine, until then." Lydia walked towards the portal, wondering what would happen if and when F.Z. finally got all of her memories back.

 _I don't think it'll be very nice. Something tells me... she's probably got a lot of issues that'll come back once she remembers them, and I'm the only person she's comfortable enough with to open up to about them. Ohhhhh. Maybe **I'm** the one that'll end up having a lot of issues by the end of all this, if it ever **does** end._

* * *

 **A/N: I played Persona 4: Dancing All Night earlier this week. Capped off the story mode in about 9 hours. I found it pretty enjoyable. If you've kept up with this story and play through (or watch) P4DAN's story, I imagine you'll probably see a couple of... similarities. I know I did.**

 **Thunderbird013 - Thanks for the review. I do try to put meaning into the dungeons and the Idols that inhabit them; perhaps not every little detail will mean something, but there are things to look for when they show up.**

 **SakuraDreamerz - Who, indeed. Only one person actually heard what she said, you know?**

 **mightymareep98 - This was a lot longer than the previous Idol fights; hopefully it didn't feel like it dragged out too long. I think this is probably as long as Idol fights will get for a while. Hope you enjoyed it, though. Thanks for keeping up with the story.**


	32. Chapter 30

**October 1, 2015 – Thursday, Early Morning – Cloudy**

Lydia opened her eyes and looked out her window to see that there was no visible sun in the sky today. She stretched while sat up on her bed, feeling much better after yesterday had taken its toll on her.

 _I don't think dance practice has ever made me feel so sore. Dawn and Carla's stupid feud hasn't slowed down in the slightest, either. I was so tired I could barely catch up on my homework... oh, no. F.Z. I forgot to speak to her!_

She got off of her bed and quickly combed her hair, putting on a pair of slippers before taking her mirror and going into the valley. She'd be gone for just a couple of minutes, she knew, now that she had a pretty good idea of how much slower time passed in the real world. F.Z. was actually already there, without having to be called out of the wind first. She had her back turned to Lydia, and was busy throwing handfuls of sharp, knife-like pieces of quartz at a quartz wall she had made, the pieces letting off distinct _thwick_ sounds as they collided. The assault was nonstop, with a new handful of quartz immediately forming in each hand once the previous one had left.

"F.Z.! I'm sorry I missed you, it's just that yesterday was really tiring, and the other dancers were being a pain in the neck, plus I had all this homework to do and-"

"Stop. I get it. You had shit to do." F.Z. crushed the quartz in her hands and turned to face Lydia as the dust fell to the ground. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and punched the air to her sides, quartz chairs forming in an instant in her hands. She put them down across from each other about two feet apart, and sat down on one, motioning for Lydia to sit on the other. Lydia put her mirror down on the grass beside her.

"I'm not mad about that. Well, actually, yeah, I'm a little mad you didn't show up earlier, but whatever. That's not the point. See, while you guys were fighting Jacob's Idol, I... I said something that reminded me of my past. Before I was... taken in here." F.Z. was twiddling her thumbs, her eyes pointed at the ground and not at Lydia.

"What was it? What did you remember?" F.Z.'s eyes moved up towards Lydia for a second and then back towards the ground. She said nothing, spending the moment flickering her eyes between a Lydia in her sleeping clothes and the grass she used to make outfits for herself out of.

"You... remember how the Idol could hypnotize you and Allie?"

"Yes."

"It... well, you know what I did to knock you guys out of it, right?"

"You kicked us and made us fall. It _did_ hurt a little, but it worked. Thanks for helping us in that fight. You were the reason we even survived!" F.Z. sighed. That should've made her feel better, but it didn't. If Lydia had something like that to her shortly after they'd met, she would've puffed her chest out and said, 'Hell yeah I was!' Yet the memories that had unlocked themselves with those words of hers just wouldn't stop playing...

"Right. Jacob asked me when I went back to the door how I knew that would work, and I told him something like, 'Girls who fall into bullshit attractions like that need to have some sense beaten into them, it's worked before, so I thought it would work here too.' _Before,_ Lydia. That means it happened before I wound up in here." F.Z. paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. She closed her eyes, deciding to speak without opening them while her mind replayed her memories once more.

"I remember... I learned that back in middle school. I don't remember what the school's name was, but back when I was... eleven, twelve, I remember I used to make friends with these older girls who were always in love with some boy. They'd get all mushy and crap over him, and sometimes they'd even go on dates – and eventually something stupid would happen and the girl would get her heart broken. They'd cry about it to me, telling me about the boys would always end up being assholes, and after a while I started to ask, 'Why are you even dating them, then?'

I remember this one girl, her name was Vanessa. Called her Nessie or something like that. Had this older sister in high school – a senior, I think – that had been with a boyfriend for a year, and she wanted to be just like her. Nessie was a thirsty thirteen-year-old, I swear. She'd always be on the lookout for some cute guy that would want to date her, and eventually she found some guy named John. John did not give a _fuck_ about Nessie. Like, he didn't treat her with any sort of respect. Sure, she wasn't an angel either – she'd talk shit about other girls and expected her boyfriend to do all these things for her – but damn, she really did end up falling hard for him." F.Z. leaned back in the chair and tilted her head up, her eyes still closed.

"So I told her, 'Nessie, he treats you so horribly. Why are you putting up with that?' and she spewed some crap about him being troubled and that it was her job to fix him. She blew me off. Then when John ended up cheating on her with some older girl, Nessie of course came crying to me, whining about how John didn't see how hard she was trying, and that he didn't care... and that's when I did it. I kicked her legs out from under her and laid into her about how much of an idiot she was." F.Z. stopped to scoff, blinking momentarily before shaking her head, chuckling and closing her eyes again.

"Yeah, I said something like, 'It's not your _job_ to fix guys! You did all that work for some dumb asshole that didn't give a damn about you! You wasted half the year hoping for something that was never gonna happen. Maybe if you had listened to me, you wouldn't have had your stupid heart broken, huh?'

It didn't happen at school, so it's not like I got in trouble for it over there. Still, after that, word got around and no one wanted to talk to me anymore. At least I made a dent in Nessie's stupidity, because she never even so much as looked at another guy for the rest of the year. Yeah, I became 'that crazy little bitch'. I used to hate it, but after a while... I embraced it. I figured, I'm not going to apologize for being who I am, for being honest. I guess maybe now you can see why I rejected my Idol, huh?" F.Z. finally opened her eyes again, looking directly at Lydia now. She had still looked a little groggy before she started telling her that story, but now Lydia looked wide awake.

"Yeah. Even back then, you didn't pull any punches. Literally. Well, kicks, I mean. Was that something you didn't want to remember?"

"I don't regret what I did, okay? If I could go back in time, I'd do it again. The problem is... after everyone at school thought of me as this terrible friend, no one wanted to talk to me. Yeah, no one dared to mess with me since they knew I wouldn't hesitate to beat them up, but that meant I was always alone.

If there's another thing that memory told me, is that I don't have any siblings, either. No older sisters to look up to, or younger sisters to set an example for. No older brothers to fight with me or younger brothers to annoy me, either. You'd think something like that would surface in a memory like that, but the only family member that I can even register is my dad. I feel like I should be able to remember a ton about him, but the only thing that comes to my mind is that he was distant from me, but that he still cared about me." F.Z. could feel the integrity of the quartz chair underneath her beginning to fail, and so stood up, directing Lydia to do the same. She looked around at all the dungeons that had remained as testaments to QIB's success.

"I bet you the next time we save somebody, I'm gonna remember something about him. Why he was so distant. Was it work? Was he just bad at talking to me? I have no idea, and it pisses me off. You know what _else_ pisses me off, Lydia?" F.Z. abruptly turned back to face the brown-haired leader of QIB, forming a lump of quartz in her hand. Lydia looked at the quartz and saw the imminent rant coming, deciding to keep a neutral expression.

"What does it _matter_ how much I remember? If I suddenly knew _everything_ about myself from before I ended up in here, would that suddenly let me leave? No! No, because I'm already _dead._ Look at me! I'm a ghost with wind powers, quartz powers, and Shadows-don't-know-I-exist powers. I can't _go_ back to the real world! If I remember everything, that's just gonna make me want to go back even _more,_ and you know what? Every time, every time I open a portal _back_ for you guys I always try to see if I can go through. You can't see it, because I always wait until you all are gone. And every time... every time, I hit a _wall._ Before you say anything, I'm not saying you should stop saving people from their Idols. There's no way in hell we can let Sycophanta steal them or the Idols take them.

But all of this... all of this is just making me wish I was _gone._ Not just dead, but _gone!_ If this... if _this_ is where I'm going to be stuck for all eternity, I'd rather get myself killed _again._ " For a moment, F.Z.'s characteristic fading in and out remained stuck on in for a few seconds, allowing Lydia to see her as if she was almost completely opaque. She saw that the younger girl was shaking, her fists clenched and the dust from the lump of quartz fallen to the ground, the two chairs crumbling to dust beside her. She had shut her eyes tightly, as if she was trying to hold back tears.

Lydia didn't say a word. She walked up to the other girl and wrapped her arms around her, feeling a tear roll down her face and the tension in F.Z.'s body. F.Z. loosened up after realizing she was being hugged, and returned the embrace without saying anything, the only sound she could hear being her own heavy breathing.

The two of them spent a moment in their embrace, before F.Z. wiggled in Lydia's arms and spoke, glad that she had managed not to make a blubbering mess of herself.

"Thanks. I... I needed that. You don't know how much that meant to me, if you had tried to talk me down I think I would've exploded." Lydia nodded, letting go of F.Z. and taking a step back to look at her. F.Z.'s eyes widened when she saw that Lydia's eyes were slightly red.

"Hey, what? Were you... crying?" She asked. Lydia smiled, rubbing her eyes a little bit and nodding.

"I know, I know, you don't want to be pitied. It's just... I don't think I would've lasted as long as if I was in your position. You're... you're really strong, F.Z. It might be all I can do, but if I can at least make it hurt a little less, then I'll do that." F.Z. sighed, not wanting to make eye contact with Lydia lest she find herself crying, too.

"I think I'm finally starting to get it now, why you care so much about me. I know you said it was because we're friends, but... well, you just don't want to see me suffer, huh? I can't say I'm against _that._ I'll take that. Hmph. But then there's everyone else... they still see me as this bitchy ghost girl with an attitude problem. I've gotten used to that – probably because I still _am_ a bitchy ghost girl with an attitude – but I don't think it's a problem, okay? I still don't like the idea of the guys learning about all this personal stuff, and Allie... well, I don't know what to think about her. She seems alright. If she came here, I guess I'd get to know her better. Jacob said he was gonna join us, and from what I know about him, he looks like a pretty decent guy. Naive, probably, but he cares. He cares a _lot._ We'll see what kind of powers his Persona has once he comes back." F.Z. turned around, summoned her screwdriver-shaped piece of quartz, and tore open a portal for Lydia.

"I think I'll be okay for now. You probably have school, right? Either that or you're about to go to sleep. Either way, you should probably get going." Lydia moved towards the portal and gave F.Z. a curious look, her eyes moving between her and the portal. F.Z. anticipated the question she was going to ask and said,

"Oh. You think I'm going to try to use the portal again once you leave. Listen, I... I just gotta _know,_ okay? I can't help it."

"It's okay. I don't blame you, I would do the same thing too. I'll see you later, F.Z." Lydia went through the portal, leaving F.Z. alone in the valley once again. As was her habit, she put a hand up to the portal, and found that it was just as solid to her as it always had been.

"Still hasn't changed." She looked up and saw that the skies above the valley had added a few new clouds since Jacob had overcome his Idol and gotten his Persona.

"Partly cloudy, huh? Tsk. Guess it's time to mess with some clouds, then..." She disappeared into the wind, going up to the skies to see if she could touch the clouds.

* * *

 **October 2, 2015 – Friday, Morning – Cloudy**

Mr. Marshall had finally finished grading the history exams. Lydia was a few points short of an A, which only two people out of the class of twenty-two had managed to get. Allie had gotten a solid B, and Damien had scraped by with a low C. According to their teacher, they were meant to keep the exam since the midterm would reuse some of the material from it.

"Well, this sucks. I gotta get it together for the next exam. At least I passed it. Whatever, that test is over and done with and I don't have to think about it for a while." Damien said, putting the paper back in his backpack as he, Allie, and Lydia left class. This time, they saw a familiar pair of faces as they went down the hallway to their next class: Lynne and Corbin, at their usual spot talking about mundane things.

"You wanna go see _Raging Motors Heptagonis_ later? I heard it's pretty sweet." Corbin said to Lynne, who was still on her crutches. Lynne made as much of a shrugging motion as she could.

"I heard one of the actors died when they were almost done with the filming. Supposedly that made them re-tailor the film to act as a memorial for him. Sure, that's fine. We have to get there early, though. You know I'm going to need the disabled seating." Corbin noticed Lydia and her friends walking by and made a 'What's up?' motion with his head, prompting Lynne to look over and see that they were there.

"Hey, look who it is. I heard we went one for one the other day. You guys got lucky that you picked Jacob instead of Rory. Valerie was new to this stuff – if she'd bothered to think about the possibility of an ambush, that trick with your Fusion Spell would've backfired. Horribly." Damien rolled his eyes and began to walk away.

"I'm not doing this. Allie, Lydia, let's go." Allie narrowed her eyes at Corbin, who smirked at them and watched them walk away. Lydia stayed behind, hoping that she could talk to Lynne for a moment while she was here.

"Hey, Lydia, what's the holdup? Come on!" Damien said.

"Go on without me! I'll catch up to you." She responded. Damien put his hands behind his head and shrugged, continuing to walk away with Allie. Corbin glanced at Lynne and then settled her eyes on Lydia.

"What's up? Did you wanna ask us something? Maybe... when the next you-know-what is going down? I might feel like telling you. I don't know, when do _you_ think the next round's gonna start, Lydia?" Lydia crossed her arms, not exactly willing to play Corbin's little game.

"Can I talk just to Lynne, please? Don't you have a class to get to?"

"Don't _you?_ " Corbin responded.

"Go, Corbin. You probably bombed Salazar's test, which means you're going to get an earful from her. You don't want to be late for _that._ " Corbin threw up his hands and began to walk away, saying,

"I got it, I got it! Miss Super-Ace Model Student here knows best, I hear you. See you later..." Lynne sighed, wishing he would take his studies more seriously. She looked over at Lydia and tilted herself to face her.

"We don't have much time. What is it you want to talk about?" Lydia thought for a moment.

 _I could ask her if she knows when the next person – or people – will be taken in. But I also want to know... why didn't she respond when I texted her? When will she be able to go back to the valley? Corbin also mentioned the name Rory; that must have been the... other guy. The one we... chose not to save. I don't think I want to know about that._

"How's your ankle doing?"

"It's getting better. Should be able to walk without the crutches by the end of next week." Lynne briefly paused, nodding in acknowledgement of something.

"Hm. I see. You want to know if I'll be able to participate in the next Idol event. I would count on it. That then begs the question, when's the next one? _That..._ well, it looks like you and your group don't intend to stop, considering what Corbin and Valerie have told me about yesterday. I don't think I should give you another advantage." Lynne said, her voice drifting off into a cadence that sounded partly tired and partly frustrated.

"Why do you feel you have to do this? Are your Idols... forcing you to?" Lynne raised her crutches and smacked them onto the ground, making a clacking sound. She took a sharp tone of voice, as if she was reprimanding Lydia for doing something wrong.

"Look. Let's get one thing straight here, Lydia. None of us are doing anything against our will. We freely gave our consent to take the power we were offered, and we quite like what we were given. We suffered more than you did to obtain it. We didn't ask for the invitations, and we don't hand them out. You all feel you have a duty to sway people away from seizing their potential. It is the same for us; we feel we must guide people into properly claiming what is rightfully theirs. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a class to get to. I apologize for not responding to your texts before. I was very busy with school and doctor's visits. I promise I will get back to you in a timely fashion the next time you send me something. Keep it mundane, though, or I'll just ignore it. Okay?" She began to move down the hallway in the direction her class was, in the opposite direction Lydia had been going.

"Okay. Talk to you later, then." Lydia and Lynne went their separate ways. Jacob's words to his Idol after it had been defeated came back to her.

 _He said that if he had taken the Idol's offer, it would've been like taking a genie's wish. He didn't want to take the easy way out. But Lynne, she and the rest of Sycophanta were perfectly okay with that. She even said that the power their Idols had offered them was "rightfully theirs". Corbin made a remark about her doing really well in her classes. I believe that. Lynne seems very intelligent. She's probably thought about why QIB rejected their Idols, and decided she didn't agree. Sycophanta felt they deserved to be their Idols and weren't willing to consider they could be anything else, and that gave them strength._

That was the fact of the matter: Sycophanta's Personas, at least from what she had seen, were clearly more powerful than QIB's. If a Persona reflected its user's soul, who they were on the inside... then somehow, "seizing their potential" and not wavering from that path really _did_ grant them that much strength.

It made Lydia feel very worried about what was going to happen to her and her friends, about what was going to happen next with the valley that seemed to be actively working against their efforts, making it harder for them with each new event and forcing them to restructure their lives around dealing with it. She still felt that they were doing the right thing, but wondered how much longer they were going to be able to keep it up without some terrible happening to them.

* * *

 **A/N: Here we are at Chapter 30. It's been a while since I've listed the current Social Links, and while there isn't a "Rank 1-10" kind of progression for them, there _is_ a point at which their power will grant an ultimate Persona.**

 **0\. Fool - Quartz Idol Busters**  
 **1\. Magician - Gerald White**  
 **3\. Empress - Carla Simmons**  
 **7\. Chariot - Nathan Young**  
 **8\. Justice - Tori Parker**  
 **9\. Hermit - Allie de Luna**  
 **10\. Fortune - Damien Hall**  
 **18\. Moon - F.Z.**  
 **(Thoth) 11. Hunger - Lynne Faire**

 **Unlike the games, which make it such that once a Social Link maxes it becomes a waste of time to spend any extra time with the person, after an ultimate Persona is unlocked, Social Links can still continue to grow in this story past "Rank 10" status.**

 **Arcana of the North - Changed your name, huh? I was wondering who you were for a second. Glad to hear you enjoyed the chapter.**


	33. Chapter 30 - Alternate Viewpoint

**A/N: I didn't know if I was going to be able to make an extra chapter once I hit 30, but I got an idea, so here it is! Big note: the events that happen in this chapter _are canon_ to the rest of this story, unlike the previous extra chapters. Keep that in mind as you read this chapter!**

* * *

 **October 2, 2015 – Friday, Early Morning – Cloudy – Lynne's Viewpoint**

The past few days, I've found myself cursing my own clumsiness every time I've had to get out of bed. Not being able to walk around in your own house without help is flat-out annoying, but at least the doctor told me I could start putting more weight on my weak leg.

I grab my phone and check for any new messages. After the last excursion, Corbin had had to retrieve Rory on his own since I wasn't able to go into the woods and Valerie had been beaten up by Lydia and her group. It's standard practice for anyone we retrieve now to receive all the other members' phone numbers, so we have open lines of communication as soon as possible.

There isn't anything I haven't seen before. Rory was able to find our little safehouse in the woods, Corbin brought him back to school without anyone growing suspicious, and now all we have to do is wait until his Idol makes him the offer. Understandably, he was very confused at first as to what was going on, but as facetious as Corbin can be, he does a good job at explaining the situation in familiar terms. Rory is indeed a student at Quartz Eastern High, which would make him the first high school student drawn to the valley to not be from Fulton. Valerie was twenty-one years old, a break in the trend, but now it seems the valley has gone back to drawing in teenagers.

I hear a knock on the door, and the voice of my father behind it.

"Lynne! It's time for you to get up!" That it is. I reach for the crutches and use them to help me get up and move around my room as I prepare for the day.

What shall I wear? I open my closet and find a long-sleeved flannel shirt that looks appealing. Now that the weather's gotten cooler, I finally have an opportunity to transition my style from summer into autumn. So, I'll wear that shirt and a pair of slim-fitting blue jeans. I'm still restricted to wearing only one shoe due to the bandages on my ankle, which means I'll have to settle for tennis shoes again. That's fine.

Once I've gotten through the slower process of getting dressed, I retrieve my backpack and make my way across the hall to where my father is eating some cereal at the kitchen table. I notice he's already set up the bowl, poured the Rice Krunchies into them but left the carton of milk beside the bowl. He knows I always enjoyed listening to the crackling of the grains of rice when the milk hits them, and it makes me smile.

My father and I spend breakfast going over typical topics for us: how I'm doing in school, is my ankle feeling better, and what do I think is going to happen on the newest episode of _Sinister,_ since it's going to premiere tonight. The show has begun to really test my patience ever since the second season finale, in which Detective Aster let himself be possessed by a demon in order to fight off those assassins that were out to kill him. After that, it became harder and harder for him to ward off potential suspicions about his power, and now I'm starting to question if he should have even been able to go this long without being noticed.

Well, that's just a television show. Considering that there's no guarantee a good one will stick around or come back, you just have to take what you're given and hope it's worth watching. After we've done with breakfast, my father takes me to school and drops me off at my usual spot on the north end. I take a moment to get out my music player and my headphones while a short Hispanic girl, probably some senior if I had to guess by how old she looked, leans against the wall of the school and talks to someone on her cell phone.

"It's not a problem, Phil. No, I know what you're trying to tell me. I promise I'll be good, okay? That won't even come up for a while, and you know that. Phil! Just let me have a little fun..." She has a colored streak of white in her hair, which strikes me as unusual since white tends to be one of the more uncommon colors of hair dye. Well, it _is_ Halloween at the end of this month. Perhaps she's putting together a costume, and testing out the dye to make sure it won't ruin her hair. Her eyes notice me and I walk away, putting my headphones in and starting up one of my symphonic rock playlists. The ambient noise of the school drowns away as I hear the fantasy-adventure themes fill my ears instead, and I focus on the music as I hobble along down to my first class.

 **Friday, Morning – Cloudy**

After my first class had let out, I find Corbin's waiting for me outside, as usual. We start going down the hallway on our way to our typical spot.

"How's everything holding up for you? Gonna drop the lumbering act pretty soon?" He asks me, hopeful for a positive response. He was certain that if I had been there to assist Valerie yesterday, that our opponents wouldn't have stood a chance. As true that might've been, the fact remains that I carry over any physical ailments I currently possess when I go into the valley. Rosalia doesn't have the physical strength needed to carry me around everywhere, nor can she remain materialized long enough to do it without needlessly draining my mind's store of energy. There was also no way Valerie would have done it, nor would I have let her.

"By the end of next week, hopefully. I hope the rain didn't do too much to the shelter." Corbin waves his hand in front of me.

"Nah, it held up like a champ. I told you, I know how to build a tree house. Of course, actually having proper boards would've helped, but I already had enough trouble getting the axe, hammer, and nails out there without adding big two-by-fours to the mix." I nod, satisfied to hear our makeshift wooden shelter hadn't been damaged by the recent rain.

Once Corbin and I had connected with each other, and formed Sycophanta, part of our plan to help those who inevitably ended up in the woods once they accepted their Idols was to provide them with a way to remain safe and in a known place until they could be retrieved. That meant we spent a weekend supposedly at the Halborne Mall instead in the woods behind our school, using a combination of online imaging and old-fashioned mapmaking to create a system of waypoints that would lead people to our shelter so that we could find them, and tell them what to expect in the coming days so we could figure out whether or not they would be able to join us.

"Enough about that. Talk to me about something normal." I tell him as we settle in our usual spot halfway between his next class and mine. Corbin thinks for a moment and raises an index finger, indicating he found something.

"Movies. Today's Friday. Gonna be another set of new ones hitting the big screen. Anything stand out to you?" I shake my head. I had looked over the list of new movies on ReelTimes the other day and saw perhaps one or two films I wouldn't mind seeing, but nothing had popped out to me as a must-see flick.

"You wanna go see _Raging Motors Heptagonis_ later? I heard it's pretty sweet." That's a movie that had already come out last week. The seventh entry in a franchise known for fast cars with ridiculous enhancements, a blatant disregard for the laws of physics, and a cast of characters whose most defining characteristic was that they thought of each other as a family, and put each other's well-being above even the cars they drove. I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to at least get out of the house now that exams were beginning to wind down.

"I heard one of the actors died when they were almost done with the filming. Supposedly that made them re-tailor the film to act as a memorial for him. Sure, that's fine. We have to get there early, though. You know I'm going to need the disabled seating." Corbin looks over at something and jerks his head upwards, which means he's acknowledging _someone._ I turn my head and see that Lydia and her two friends, Damien and Allison, are walking with her once more.

"Hey, look who it is. I heard we went one for one the other day. You guys got lucky that you picked Jacob instead of Rory. Valerie was new to this stuff – if she'd bothered to think about the possibility of an ambush, that trick with your Fusion Spell would've backfired. Horribly." I see that Damien is having none of Corbin's antics today, as he's rolling his eyes and beginning to walk away from us.

"I'm not doing this. Allie, Lydia, let's go." Allison glares at Corbin, who smirks back at them as he watches her and Damien walk away. Lydia, on the other hand, seems to want something from us – or me, more likely – as she remains where she is instead of going off with her friends.

"Hey, Lydia, what's the holdup? Come on!" Damien says.

"Go on without me! I'll catch up to you!" She responds. I notice Damien put his hands behind his head and shrug before he leaves with Allison beside him. Corbin looks at me for a second before casting his gaze upon Lydia. He thinks of her as someone who probably shouldn't be leading a group, that she would have been better off as the "chick who stays in the back healing other people the whole time." Like he does to the rest of her group, he loves to tease her with the knowledge she doesn't possess.

"What's up? Did you wanna ask us something? Maybe... when the next you-know-what is going down? I might feel like telling you. I don't know, when do _you_ think the next round's gonna start, Lydia?" She crosses her arms, clearly annoyed by Corbin.

"Can I talk just to Lynne, please? Don't you have a class to get to?" And I'm right. She wants to talk to me again.

"Don't _you?_ " Corbin talks back to her. He's going to waste all of our time if he keeps on going like this.

"Go, Corbin. You probably bombed Salazar's test, which means you're going to get an earful from her. You don't want to be late for _that._ " That gets him to drop his little game with Lydia. He throws his hands up in annoyance and starts on his way out.

"I got it, I got it! Miss Super-Ace Model Student here knows best, I hear you. See you later..." I sigh. I wish he wouldn't resort to name-calling. Yes, I _am_ acing all of my classes right now. I'm concerned about my future, and he should be too. I tilt myself using my crutches so that I can face Lydia directly.

"We don't have much time. What is it you want to talk about?" Lydia takes a few seconds to think of a question.

"How's your ankle doing?"

"It's getting better. Should be able to walk without the crutches by the end of next week." I stop, wondering why she's asking about my injury. If it had been someone outside of her group, I would have figured it to be just a common courtesy. Lydia seems polite enough, so perhaps that _is_ part of her motive, and yet... we both know this injury is the only thing keeping me from going into the valley.

"Hm. I see. You want to know if I'll be able to participate in the next Idol event. I would count on it. That then begs the question, when's the next one? _That..._ well, it looks like you and your group don't intend to stop, considering what Corbin and Valerie have told me about yesterday. I don't think I should give you another advantage." If all Lydia wants out of me is information about the supernatural aspects of our lives, she can go pester Corbin for that. I'm sure he'd _love_ to lead her around in circles.

"Why do you feel you have to do this? Are your Idols... forcing you to?" What? Where did she get an idea like _that_ from? I take my crutches and hit the ground with them, offended that she thought we were being played like puppets. It's time to set the record straight...

"Look. Let's get one thing straight here, Lydia. None of us are doing anything against our will. We freely gave our consent to take the power we were offered, and we quite like what we were given. We suffered more than you did to obtain it. We didn't ask for the invitations, and we don't hand them out. You all feel you have a duty to sway people away from seizing their potential. It is the same for us; we feel we must guide people into properly claiming what is rightfully theirs. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a class to get to. I apologize for not responding to your texts before. I was very busy with school and doctor's visits. I promise I will get back to you in a timely fashion the next time you send me something. Keep it mundane, though, or I'll just ignore it. Okay?" I'm going to be late for class if I stick around here any longer, so I start to walk away towards my next class. Lydia has this "I don't know what to make of what you just said to me" look on her face, that mixture of confusion and surprise that I'm starting to get accustomed to coming from her.

I'd rather not have to put anyone's life on the line for this. But I can't see any other outcome if the both of us insist on fighting for our respective sides, which means... one of these days, one of us will be severely injured as a result, maybe even _dead._ I shudder momentarily, not wanting to consider that anymore as I make my way down the hall.

 **Friday, Evening – Clear**

 _Raging Motors Heptagonis_ turned out to be pretty well-done, at least in comparison to the rest of its series. As silly as its action scenes can be, I have to admit they were pretty entertaining. There's nothing like sitting back and watching someone _else_ live out a life on the border between reality and fantasy.

I'm sitting in my room now, having already finished watching the most recent episode of _Sinister_ with my parents. It was passable, but I'm really starting to think the third season isn't going to hold up as well as the first two seasons. If the writers haven't figured out a way to resolve Aster's issues in a way that isn't a complete stretch, I don't think I'll keep up with the show anymore. Being moved to Friday nights probably won't help it, either.

My phone vibrates, with a "Let's get digging!" voice clip that I'd pulled from the audio files of some indie video game I'd played a while back. I figured that would be fitting for the guy whose Idol's Nest was one big cave. I pick it up and see Rory Lewis's name above the message, which is:

"I know I asked this already, but... there's a chance my Idol could show up in my dreams when I go to sleep tonight, right?" It's only been a day. The effects of Narcissus Syndrome have to set in before that's even a possibility, and even that takes a couple of days to start showing itself. I take the time to write a somewhat-lengthy message back to him.

"No. Remember, you'll have to put up with Narcissus Syndrome for a few days before that happens to you. In order to minimize its effects on you, avoid looking at reflective surfaces as much as you can – that includes mirrors, windows, and clean, shiny metal. You'll start to see your other self appear should you look at yourself for too long. Don't worry. Once that happens, it means your Idol is on his way." A few minutes pass before Rory responds, the "Let's get digging!" sound interrupting the music video I'd been watching on my laptop.

"I drive my own car to school. Does that mean I have to go without looking at my mirrors while driving?" He asks. That's a question everyone's had, myself included. As it turns out...

"No, you can do _that._ You only briefly glance at your mirrors while driving, and it takes several seconds of sustained exposure for the effects to kick in. That said, take extra caution not to let your eyes linger." His next response comes a lot quicker this time.

"Alright, thanks. Hey, I hope your ankle gets better soon. ^_^ And seriously, thanks for helping me make sense of this stuff. Hopefully I can join you guys soon." Although we're not actually talking face-to-face, I nod at my phone. Lydia's got Jacob, and I have Rory. That means, not taking the Rebel into account, we're now four vs. five in fights.

Should it come down to it, I'm almost certain we'll beat them. However, the change in the energies pooling up within the valley has not fluctuated, at least as far as I know from Rosalia's connection to it. That means the current paradigm will likely remain for the foreseeable future, which would _then_ mean the next incident will happen approximately ten to twelve days from now and will draw in two people, as before. I expect Rory to come through for us by then, so we will be able to send two of us to each new Nest. Given Valerie's... disposition, I'll likely be teaming up with her, and Corbin will show Rory the ropes. That means there's a fifty-fifty chance I'll be fighting Lydia's group.

I lay back on my pillows and stare at the ceiling, which still has an old poster of _Precious Remnant_ , my favorite rock band, taped to it. They're the only group I'd still consider buying the physical media for, just because they always put such intricate artwork into their albums.

"Wouldn't it be nice... if she and I could just share things like _music_ _,_ instead of the power of Persona and an unwavering devotion to our ideals? Yes. Yes, it would." I ask and answer my own question, knowing that Rosalia is listening to me. I'm only half-surprised when she decides to speak, her clear, soprano voice echoing inside my head alongside my thoughts.

" _It would. But anyone who gets in our way has to be eliminated, Lynne. We can't let her way of thinking prevail. We'll show her and the whole world that everyone deserves to be the person they always wish they could be."_

Yes. We've made our decisions. Neither of us will give in, which means I'll have to be ready to fight. However... that's a reminder of another day. One that there's still at least a full seven days of living normally in between now and it. I'll deal with it then. Right now, I'd rather be watching videos, so I'll do that. Hmm, some Canadian music critic just posted a new artist review... let's see how hard he tears into them this time.

* * *

 **A/N: Just as a reminder... unlike the previous extra chapters, the events of this one _are canon!_**

 **SakuraDreamerz - What I did was create each character first, and then figure out which Arcana suited them best. From there, I went and did some research into the meanings of the Major Arcana, and then went on to look up mythological figures that had some relation to those meanings. Ophelia and Rosalia are exceptions, as those two are designed after the character from Hamlet and the character from Trauma Team, respectively. If you have any further questions, feel free to PM me about it.**

 **October Autumn - Teenagers, right? They think they know everything... I think if the current F.Z. knew about how the P4 cast got their Personas, she'd probably go hunting for the killer herself, beating them up and then calling the police.**


	34. Chapter 31

**October 3, 2015 – Saturday, Morning – Sunny**

"I got the ribbons!" Allie said, presenting a set of ribbons on Damien's kitchen counter before everyone. There were four – one for each girl on QIB: a blue one for Lydia, a red one for Allie, a pink one for Lin, and a purple one for F.Z. Written in white, cursive letters on each ribbon were each girl's initials.

"And I have the pins." Damien said, laying out a row of round, metal pins with "QIB" written on them in white lettering, the letters outlined in black.. Like the ribbons, each one had a different color.

"Blue for Lydia, red for Allie, black for me, orange for Nathan, purple for F.Z., and Jacob, I didn't know you were going to be with us when I placed the order, so go ahead and pick whatever color you want. The pins aren't personalized like the ribbons are, so I just had the whole rainbow made twice over. That makes me think, though – how long do you think this is going to last, guys? The disappearances started happening a little over a month before school started, and ever since we got involved, we've been adding people to our number pretty steadily." Jacob noticed that a couple of the pins were metallic silver, and took one of those for himself. Nathan went up, grabbed an orange pin, and sat back down on his seat to the right of the big screen TV. Damien's sister quietly took a pink pin and sat down on the seat opposite Nathan.

"Uh, who knows? We have no clue what the valley is even trying to do by forcing people to meet their Idols. What did you say about Sycophanta's purpose, Lydia? Something about giving people their uh, rightful power?" Lydia took her ribbon, a blue pin, and sat on the couch.

"Lynne told me that her group is helping people take the power that is rightfully theirs. She seems to know more about the valley than any of us, and the way she spoke to me when she said that tells me she's probably not lying." Jacob stood behind the couch, leaning on the top of it with the pin in his hand.

"Well... the Idols are kinda like a get rich quick scheme, aren't they? They offer people what they want in exchange for becoming one with them... but there's always a catch to that kind of thing. Like, some kind of payment that comes with it. It's never a fair one, either." Allie sat down next to Lydia, a red ribbon and a red pin with her. Damien took his place on the couch with his black pin and followed up on Jacob's comment.

"Like a deal with the devil, huh? So... just like that TV show, _Sinister._ " Everyone was silent for a moment, wondering about the possibility that the Idols were some kind of demonic presence. Lin was the one who broke the silence, her tone serious and partially scared.

"Except this isn't a TV show. This is real. Really, Damien, you just _had_ to bring up _Sinister,_ didn't you? There could be a dark force guiding all of this that's way beyond your comprehension, and-"

"It doesn't matter who or what is behind it. We're the only ones who can do anything about it, and once we figure out who or what is behind the disappearances, we'll stop them. That's what we have our Personas for. Not only that, but we're the good guys, right? How many stories have you seen where the good guys _lose_ in the end? Not a lot, I know you. You love all the ones where friendship and bonds end up winning the day, even if the characters have to suffer a lot in the process. Just think of yourself as being one of the supporting characters in one of those." Damien spoke, trying to calm his sister down. Nathan nodded, resting his arms on the armrests of the chair and saying,

"Right. I think we've been doing the right thing so far. I mean, hey, look at all of us. We all came out better for what happened to us. Lin, you're proof that being a part of this whole business doesn't mean you have to fight or go into the valley." Damien then turned to Lydia and said,

"Yeah. Oh, Lydia. What did you decide regarding FantasyFlare? It's in a couple of weeks, but we need to finalize the hotel reservations today. Considering all the people we have now, we _can_ actually fit everybody in two rooms, though it'll be a little cramped. So? Yay or nay?"

"Sure. I think if it wasn't in Houston, my parents would've said no. My dad commutes to work there every day for his job, so he's gotten to know the city pretty well." She responded. Nathan raised his hand, looking over at Damien.

"Hold on. Don't we have like, over a thousand dollars? Why do we have to settle for just two rooms? Did you guys book premium suites at the Twin Solstice, or what?" Lin settled back in her chair, her tenseness from a minute ago beginning to dissipate.

"We originally made the reservations before school started, shortly after the date and location was announced. When you book rooms at a hotel, there has to be at least one adult in each room. Now, originally we were going to have Arielle along with us – Damien and I would've been in one room and Arielle and Allie would've been in the other. That was the plan, until Arielle got serious with her boyfriend and decided she was going to go with _him_ to the convention instead, leaving us without the second adult we needed. I was going to have to cancel the other room until you came into the picture, Nathan. You're eighteen, you count as an adult. We can split everyone by guys and girls. So no, it's not really a matter of cost. Also, for the record, we'll be staying at the Helena right across the street from the convention center. I think that's about as good as we can ask for."

"Wow, sounds like we really lucked out." Jacob said, leaning his chin on the top of the couch. Damien got up off of the couch and looked towards the bathroom down the hall.

"Yeah. Lin, we're gonna get going. Now that we know everyone's coming, you can go ahead and update the reservations." The group rose, Lydia and Allie taking a moment in front of the mirror in the bathroom to put the ribbons in their hair before everyone went into the valley.

Jacob took a look at his mirror, a brown, wooden palette-shaped one with painted, rounded indents comprising the colors of the rainbow surrounding the glass in the middle. He saw that his reflection changed from his own to that of his other self – his Persona – after a few seconds, and then looked up to see that F.Z. had appeared from the wind. Lydia gave her her ribbon and helped her put it in her hair.

"So, guess you guys are here to train. I managed to clear some of the debris from the top floor of your dungeon, Jacob – but some of the pieces were too big for me to move, so it's still a mess up there. There's also another Shadow in a cocoon in front of the mural. You might wanna call up your Persona and let us know what its weaknesses and strengths are." Jacob looked back down at his mirror, seeing Icarus's face replace his own.

" _I can't actually do any fighting, but since she asked, I'm strong against wind and weak against fire. Let me out! I want to see the world."_ Icarus spoke in his mind. Jacob nodded, concentrating on the mirror and trying to bring out Icarus. He flinched as he watched blue flames sprout underneath it, consuming it and his hand before his Persona materialized above him.

Everyone looked at Icarus as he spread his arms out and assumed a gliding position, his body parallel to the ground. As he began to flap the wings attached to his arms, a glowing, silver wind emanated from underneath him and enveloped Jacob, lifting him off of the ground and taking him up several feet in the air.

"Gyah! What's going on?!" Jacob cried, flailing around in the bubble of wind until he realized he was being suspended in midair by his Persona. The rest of QIB watched with reactions ranging from amazement to curiosity to amusement as Icarus flew above the valley.

" _Now, watch **this!** "_ Icarus's glasses flashed, and suddenly there was a similar pair on Jacob's face. His vision changed once they were on him – now he looked at the various quartz structures and saw black auras radiating from each, as well as red dots located within them, some brighter than others. He looked towards the museum that had served as his own dungeon and saw the object F.Z. was talking about – a quartz cocoon in front of the mural, that showed up in his enhanced vision as something with moving zebra stripes, markedly different from the red dots that he saw on the lower floors.

He then looked down at the rest of the group, noticing that not only was Icarus's power suspending him in midair, but it had also effectively removed gravity for him within the bubble, allowing him to tilt his entire body in any direction he wanted. Everyone except F.Z. showed up with a colored aura around them – Lydia was surrounded by a light turquoise, Allie by gray, Nathan by orange, and Damien by red. Nathan cupped his hands in front of his mouth and shouted,

"Hey! That's pretty cool, Jacob! What else can your Persona do?" Jacob's attention turned to Nathan specifically. After a few seconds, everything around him was dimmed, and the orange aura around Nathan was pulled away from him, being replaced by an overlay of a palette and two paint-filled spots in it – one was yellow with a lightning bolt imprinted above it and had the symbol of a shield on top of it, and the other was green with the symbol of a breeze above it and had a broken shield on top of it.

"Nathan, I can see what your Persona's strengths and weaknesses are with these glasses!" He turned his attention to Lydia, and focused on her. The aura around her gave way to the palette overlay, except a different zone matching the color of her aura was filled, one with the symbol of a raindrop above it. According to what he could see, her current Persona was strong against water and weak against electricity.

"Yours too, Lydia!" Everyone then realized that his voice was speaking in their heads as clear as if he was standing right next to them – they could already communicate over long distances thanks to their Personas being close enough to each other, but Jacob was several stories in midair with his Persona right next to him and he could still be heard easily.

"Does he know any fighting moves?" Damien asked.

"No! I think Icarus is supposed to be a scanning kind of Persona!" Jacob began to move downwards towards the ground; when he was low enough, he let Icarus disappear back into his mirror and landed on the ground with both feet. Allie looked at him and the mirror he held and said,

"That's new. So your Persona doesn't fight, but instead scans for the strengths and weaknesses of individuals... that could be huge. How far can you do that? The way you were floating in the air like that reminded me of a drone. You won't even need to accompany us if you can do that from far enough away."

"Well, I could see that cocoon at the top of my dungeon without any problems. I can also see inside the buildings, too – there are these red dots inside, some moving around and some staying in place." F.Z. nodded, and then crossed her arms, giving Jacob a sharp look.

"So you can actually _see_ the Shadows, straight up. I could sense them before if I was close enough, but you can apparently track them like some kind of radar. Also, you still haven't told us what your Persona's strong or weak against."

"Oh! Strong against wind, weak against fire. That's what he told me." Allie chuckled a bit at hearing this.

"What? What's funny?" Nathan asked.

"Jacob's Persona's name is Icarus, and he kinda _looks_ like the Icarus from Greek mythology. Well, in the story, Icarus's wings melted when he flew too close to the sun – a source of fire. So it fits that Jacob's Persona has that kind of weakness. But it doesn't look like he's supposed to be close enough to get hurt, anyway. I don't think we'll have to worry about him." She answered. Damien put his hands behind his head and started walking towards the roofless museum.

"So, we know what he can do and we know what elements to use on that cocoon Shadow. What do you say we get going, then?" The rest of the group followed him, with F.Z. falling towards the back. Lydia noticed that she was staring with her arms still crossed at Jacob, who was telling everyone about what the view his Persona offered him looked like. She noticed that F.Z. let out a quick breath, almost like she was scoffing at him.

 _She doesn't look pleased. I think I know why, but I'll give it some more time. I might be assuming too quickly._

The group got to the front of the building, and Jacob looked up at where the top of the Pantheon-like structure that formed the front of his dungeon had once been. There used to be a pointed rooftop, but F.Z.'s "attack" left it looking like a giant had taken a bite out of it. According to what the rest of the group had told him, it looking like this was supposed to be aligned with what he was feeling inside when he was drawn into the valley – but he couldn't remember thinking about Greek mythology after the breakup. Was there some kind of story he read about before that matched up with what had been feeling? The inside of the dungeon was also a museum, so maybe it was-

"Jacob, heads up!" Damien's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked around to see that black blobs were sprouting from the quartz, taking shape as large, muscular men that reminded him of professional wrestlers.

"You might wanna get into the air or something..." Nathan said, readying for battle.

"Alright! Icarus, let's do this!" Jacob looked into his mirror, calling on his Persona and feeling the silver winds surround him immediately after the mirror had burned up. Icarus pulled him far enough away from the action, and with a flash of light Jacob obtained his scanning glasses and focused on the Shadows that had just spawned. Now that he was focusing on one of them, he saw a couple of other things appear in his view that weren't there before.

"It's a... Beastly Gigas? Its Arcana is Strength... and it looks like it's weak to ice!" He called out.

"Okay. Jack Frost, Mabufu!" Lydia summoned the snowman fairy and had him form shards of ice around all the Shadows, connecting on each one and then knocking them all down.

"Now, let's wipe them out with a Fusion Spell! Get your elementals ready!" The group came together and combined ice, fire, lightning and earth to cast another variation of Thunder Breaker on the Shadows, which dealt severe damage to them but was unable to wipe them out completely. In Jacob's eyes, he could see circles imposed on each Shadow that had silvers of white remaining in otherwise entirely gray circles. Icarus wordlessly communicated that these were meant to show him how much stamina enemies had, and if these Shadows had been capable of using elemental attacks or other non-physical skills, there would have been another circle showing _that_ energy level as well.

"Man, those things are tough!" Nathan remarked as the Shadows got back up and began their counterattack. As might've been expected of big, muscular figures, they solely used physical attacks and hit hard. Another round of Mabufu from Jack Frost finished them off, and Nathan healed everyone with Media. Jacob came down from the air and watched as Lydia picked a card out of several quartz vines that had sprouted, showing everyone that it was a green-bordered card with some kind of figure depicted on it.

"The Persona Rakshasa and some more power for everyone. Jacob, are you going to be okay out here by yourself?" Lydia asked him. Jacob looked around and saw that besides the group, there wasn't anyone else around. Even when he wasn't actively being used, Icarus was still granting him a sixth sense that let him detect threats – something that he hadn't paid attention to while he was staring at the broken roof of the dungeon. According to the ability Icarus dubbed Danger Warning, he would be safe outside and could track the positions of Shadows from there.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. You guys go inside. I'll be able to follow along with Icarus's sight." Jacob looked into his mirror and watched the flames consume it once more. He didn't think he was going to get tired of that anytime soon.

Several floors later, Jacob felt that he was getting the hang of this scanning thing. Unlike the others' Personas, who could only exist for moments at a time and had to be recalled using the mirrors every time they made a move, Icarus was able to persistently remain – apparently because his lack of direct fighting capabilities meant that the mental weight of keeping him active was much less strenuous as a result. He could always be there to warn the group about hidden Shadows, to relay their details and even help find item containers that had appeared in the museum since their last visit.

Now QIB had made it back to the top floor, where the lack of a roof allowed the perpetual sunshine of the valley to beam down on them all. Icarus's sight could not discern anything about what was inside the cocoon – only that it was a powerful foe, with moving stripes of black and white comprising its aura. That reminded him of the only _other_ enemy to have such a pattern associated with it – his own Idol. He wondered if what was in that cocoon would be that powerful, too.

"Guys, I can't really see what's inside that quartz cocoon. It's really powerful, though, so be careful. It might have the same powers my Idol had!" Damien heard him and responded with,

"Well, from what we've seen before, the Shadows inside these things are like weird doppelgangers of the people that the dungeons were made from. They've always had the skills our Personas do, but stronger. Thing is... _your_ Persona doesn't fight. Yet you're telling us this thing's no joke, so you might be on to something with it having your Idol's abilities, Jacob." F.Z. rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Uh huh. Well, I'll be standing by to beat some sense into you guys in case the Shadow _does_ pull the same shit Jacob's Idol did. You better hope it doesn't do that dodging thing too, because there isn't a roof for me to collapse on top of it this time." Nathan looked into his mirror and saw Tepeyollotl's jaguar head giving him a fierce look with his fangs bared, a look that matched his own resolve.

"We're stronger now, too. We'll show it what we're capable of! Damien, it's weak against fire. That means you're the first one to go!"

"Alright. Everybody ready?" He said. Lydia shifted to Hua Po, nodding in acknowledgement. After seeing that everyone was primed, Damien called out Ra and set the cocoon on fire, cracking it open and releasing the Shadow within.

From his position in the air, Jacob focused upon the masked Shadow with the aura of moving stripes. As was predicted by everyone, it was indeed strong against wind and weak against fire. Its Arcana was the Sun, apparently – he still didn't know what the significance of that was yet – and it was called the Painter's Remnant. Where he would be shown the abilities it was capable of was instead shrouded in the same moving black-and-white stripes that surrounded it.

" _Something about that Shadow is resisting our scanning. It'll be a while before we can discern what abilities it has. Act cautiously."_ Icarus spoke over his telepathic connection to the rest of the group, his voice having taken on a deeper, more serious tone than usual.

"Okay!" Lydia said. The Shadow had Jacob's height, but was thinner than he was. Upon acknowledging the threats before it, it began to moan in a voice that sounded very much like his – which startled Jacob, not expecting to hear something so _human_ from a Shadow. A green pulse of light emitted briefly from it, which everyone recognized as being the same scanning ability that the Idol had used to figure out their weaknesses in an instant.

"Well, there it goes! It knows what we're up to!" Damien said.

"It doesn't matter. We're still attacking its weakness!" Allie said as she began the assault, casting Rakunda on it to lower its defense. Damien continued by firing another blast of Agilao at the Shadow. It groaned in pain as the flames ate away at its stamina, falling to the ground and allowing QIB to set up a Fusion Spell.

"Lydia! We need to focus on fire damage. We can create a stronger Fireball now that you can use fire, too!" Allie said.

"Okay. Nathan, you'll just have to follow up with something physical. Damien, Allie, let's do it!" The three of them charged up their elemental spells, simultaneously firing them all at the fallen Shadow. The twin flames of Agilao blended with the boulder of Magnara to create a molten rock that impacted the Shadow, making it scream and twitch violently. Jacob shuddered at the sound, never having thought that he'd find the sound of his own voice so disturbing.

"Dude, shut _up!_ You're creeping me out!" Nathan shouted at the screaming Shadow as Tepeyollotl hit multiple times with Kill Rush, sending it rolling across the floor into a piece of quartz rubble.

" _I think we should call that attack... Molten Fireball!"_ Hua Po said before disappearing. The aura around the Shadow weakened slightly, allowing Jacob to discern the ability it had just used as Gathering Insight and another of its abilities, called Sexy Dance – which was able to charm all enemies in range, if the spell connected.

"Uh, um... the Shadow has a charm ability just like... my Idol had. It works on everyone this time, so... watch out!" Jacob told everyone, feeling a little flustered that _that_ was what the spell was apparently called. Only a _spell_ could make _anybody_ think that inhuman _thing_ was attractive in any sense of the word.

"Alright. It's getting up!" Lydia said, preparing for the possibility that the Shadow was about to use that charm ability. Everyone was ready to turn away from the Shadow in a heartbeat if that was what it was going to do.

What they didn't expect was for the Shadow to do something completely different: it stopped its moaning and became totally silent, staring at Lydia and firing a shimmering crimson beam of energy that hit her as she turned away and enveloped her in a cloud of red miasma. The miasma turned the irises of her eyes red, and she ran to the side of the Shadow and took an offensive stance towards the rest of the party.

"What was _that?!_ Lydia! Jacob, was that the charm attack?" Nathan cried. Jacob could sense Icarus shaking his head.

"No. That was... that was something else. It looks like it's taken control of Lydia!" Damien threw up his hands in frustration.

"Well, that's just great. F.Z., looks like you're gonna have to do your thing. In the meantime, let's beat the crap out of that Shadow!" He called on Ra to immolate the Shadow once more; the fireball connected and knocked it down, but this time it remained silent. F.Z. took the opportunity to rush behind Lydia as the wind.

"I swear, this mind control shit is annoying as hell..." She grumbled as she prepared to trip Lydia over. She didn't expect for Lydia to turn around suddenly and kick her in the stomach, sending her flying against a piece of quartz rubble.

"Damn it! Ow..." She groaned. Lydia had hit her a lot harder than she thought she would – it must have been the fact that she was imbued with the power of both her current Persona and the clothing enchantment.

Damien and Allie had been hoping for the opportunity to use a Fusion Spell, but after seeing what just happened to F.Z., they now had to change their strategy. Allie quickly adjusted her glasses and said,

"Ugh. It's got a pretty strong hold on her. Damien, Nathan, I think if we continue hitting the Shadow, we can break the mind control! Come on, let's keep attacking it!" The three of them used their individual attacks on the Shadow, putting cracks in its mask as it fell over again after being hit by Ra's flames and smacking it around while it was down with Magnara and Kill Rush.

However, Lydia was still enveloped by the miasma even after all their attacks, and said nothing as she brought her mirror to her face and summoned Power, who sent out a blast of wind towards everyone and caught Nathan in it, spinning him around in midair before throwing him on the ground. Lydia then turned her attention to Allie, and had Power charge up his spear with light before throwing it slightly behind her, causing a sigil of light to begin gathering power.

"It's Mahama! Get out of the way!" Jacob cried. That the spear was thrown _behind_ the party meant that they had to move _towards_ the Shadow and Lydia rather than away from them; Nathan couldn't get away in time and fell back down to the ground just a second after he had stood up. Allie tried to jump away from the circle, but her ankle hit a piece of rubble and she fell on her side, remaining at the edge of the circle as it completed and went limp as it knocked her out.

"Oh, no..." Jacob said, seeing that only Damien was left standing. F.Z. had managed to recover, but was clearly in pain and had used her powers to end up behind him after Lydia had finished attacking.

"Remind me never to piss her off. Ugh." F.Z. said.

"Where are those Revival Beads we picked up earlier?" Damien asked.

" _She_ has them! She's always held all the items, remember?" F.Z. responded, pointing to the small purse that Lydia was wearing. Damien slapped his palm against his forehead, groaning in frustration.

"Of course she does." In the distance, Jacob saw the Shadow get back up again. The skill that it had just used now appeared on his overlay, and it was fittingly called Betrayal. For a second, he was seriously worried that the Shadow was going to use Lydia to kill the rest of the group – but then he saw the red miasma dissipate, turning her eyes back to their normal brown color. Lydia blinked, saw what she had done, and shook with anger as the Shadow turned to her, its mask crumbling away and revealing a pair of gray lights where its eyes should've been. It extended its arms out towards her and Damien and fired the white blasts of energy known as Megido at them. Damien flinched from the attack, but Lydia managed to remain still even as the attack hit her.

"I didn't like being forced to attack my friends the first time, you know that? Do you know what's going to happen to you now that you've made me do it a second time?! You're going to _die,_ you monster!" She called on Hua Po, who was feeling a different kind of flame burning within her now.

" _We have just the thing for **you!** " _Jacob saw that Lydia's aura was burning stronger than before – as she wielded Hua Po, it had been red to match her element. Now, it had incorporated another flame at its center, making Lydia look like she was burning up in white fire.

"Agidyne!" She shouted. Hua Po twirled in the air vigorously, and suddenly an enormous flame exploded on top of the Shadow, knocking it down once again and rendering it almost completely unable to move. Lydia marched forward with Hua Po flying beside her, making both Damien and Jacob wonder what she was about to do.

Lydia stopped inches from where the Shadow lay, where it looked at her and groaned in agony. She glared at it, and extended one hand down towards it, an action that Hua Po mirrored by moving to her right side, extending her left hand where Lydia had put her right.

"Perish in _flames._ " She muttered, and let her Persona take care of providing the actual flames. From Damien and Jacob's perspective, though, it appeared as if Lydia herself was casting the flamethrower that burned the Shadow to death. They watched the Shadow's body crumble into quartz pieces, and as Hua Po and her flames disappeared they saw it was a set of pieces resembling all the colors associated with the elements – there was even a clear one in there for the non-elemental skills.

Lydia felt exhausted afterwards, and decided to sit down on the ground next to the pile of quartz the Shadow had left behind. She retrieved one of the Revival Beads from her purse and handed it to Damien, who had walked over.

"Here. Get Nathan back up. I remember he told us earlier his Persona learned Recarm, which can do the same thing these beads can. Let _him_ revive Allie."

"Alright. Hey, don't beat yourself up over what happened. I know you'd never attack us on purpose."

"Mmhm." Lydia mumbled. As Damien walked away, Jacob dropped down onto a free spot on the floor, going over to Lydia and looking her over.

"Are you okay? You used up what was left of your mental energy with those last two spells. I didn't even _know_ Hua Po could use Agidyne!" She looked over at him, and at F.Z., who was standing nearby and using some of the rubble quartz to make a basket to hold the Shadow's remains in.

"She... can't. Not normally. I think... I think this is another one of those Beholder-power things. I can bolster the strength of a skill to its next tier, but it takes a _lot_ out of me to do it, like four times more than it would if I could cast it naturally." She watched F.Z. begin to put the quartz pieces in the basket. The ghost girl glanced at her and said,

"I am _never_ getting on your bad side." Lydia sighed, remembering that she had kicked F.Z. into some of the rubble while being controlled by the Shadow. F.Z. only had clothing enchantments to protect her – no one knew if she could die twice, and no one wanted to know the answer to that question either. Compared to the Persona-users, she was as fragile as glass.

"Are you okay?" Jacob asked again. Lydia looked up at him, seeing the genuine concern written on his face and managing a smile.

"Yes. I'm fine, Jacob. I'm just... tired." She saw Nathan get up from the floor, look over to see that the battle had ended, and had Tepeyollotl use his newest skill to revive Allie. Now that everyone was back up, Lydia got up from the floor and began to walk towards where they had come in.

"Jacob, all the Shadows in this area are gone for now, right?" She asked him.

"Uh huh. Everyone should be able to go back down without any problems."

"Man, that sucked. That was almost as bad as my last football game." Nathan said, stretching his arms.

"Hey, Lydia. You and Ophelia should help me and Tepeyollotl heal up everybody-"

"I can't. I have no more energy to cast any spells." She responded, not bothering to look at him.

"Alright. Uh, I guess I didn't know how much longer the fight lasted. That Shadow was really that hard, huh?" Allie had a tired, yet curious look on her face, asking the same question without saying anything.

"That Shadow made her fucking _mad._ After you two went down, she took an Almighty spell to the face without even flinching – and then burned the hell out of the Shadow until it was dead." F.Z. said, copying the motions and facial expressions Lydia had made so that Nathan and Allie could see.

"I see." Allie said, watching Lydia lead the group out of the dungeon. She stopped once she touched the grass, turned to F.Z., and said,

"I don't want to walk all the way back to the usual spot. F.Z., can you just open the portal here?" F.Z. materialized her quartz screwdriver and tried to tear open a portal, finding that she could perfectly do so now that she was out of the dungeon's influence and the Shadows had been recently cleared out.

"Hey, Lydia, you should at least let me heal everybody before we leave. You know how the exhaustion always hits us like a truck when we get out." Nathan said, raising his obsidian-lined mirror.

"Go ahead. You don't have to ask my permission to do that."

Allie and Damien gave each other a worrying look as Nathan's Persona healed everyone. That battle proved how dangerous it could be to put so much on Lydia's shoulders. If she lost control of herself, her holding all the items and the power she held as the Beholder could very easily wipe out everyone else.

"Hey, Lydia..." Damien began.

"Maybe you should let _us_ hold some of the healing items next time. If you hadn't managed to break free from the Shadow's control when you did, we might have _really_ been in trouble." Allie finished. Lydia turned back towards them, reached into her purse, and gave all the items in it to F.Z., trading her for the basket full of Shadow fragments.

"We don't even need them outside of the valley. Let F.Z. find a place to store them – it's not like the Shadows are going to steal them or anything. We can divide them up the next time we're here. I'm going to the Velvet Room." She turned and noticed that the door wasn't there, remembering that it was all the way back at the entrance to the valley. She sighed, beginning to walk over there and having everyone follow her.

"Another thing... I'd like to think that that won't happen again, but if an enemy manages to take control of you or knock you out, we won't have someone to call the shots in battle. I think we should designate a second-in-command in case you can't do it, Lydia." Allie said.

"You do it, Allie. You seem like the smartest person in this group when Lydia's not in charge." F.Z. said. Damien put his hands behind his head and looked down at Allie, who had given the ghost girl a questioning look.

"I would've worded that better, but yeah, you're definitely smarter than I am. I don't mind listening to _you._ " He said. Nathan shrugged.

"Sounds good to me. You guys have been at this longer than me – and I'm sort of used to following someone else's playbook, anyway." Jacob held his mirror in both hands and said,

"I'm new. I don't really know you all _that well_ yet, but from what I've seen from her, Allie seems pretty intelligent. Sure!" Lydia heard everyone endorsing Allie to take the role of second-in-command and said,

"Alright. I guess if I get mind controlled again, Allie will take over for me. And if both of us are down, Damien's next. Now, I'm going to go and give these fragments to Victor before the basket disintegrates. I'll be right back." Lydia saw the portal in the distance begin to shrink, and turned to go into the Velvet Room. From Jacob's perspective, she had disappeared into thin air, and he now knew for sure that the mysterious room she'd spoken about existed.

"Hey. Jacob." F.Z. said, going up to him.

"What?"

"How old are you? You look like you're closer to my age than the rest of these guys."

"I'm fifteen. I'm a sophomore – I'm guessing you're... or uh, were- you _were_ a sophomore, too?" F.Z. bounced a bit at his response, smiling.

"You're not gonna offend me by reminding me I'm dead. I remember being fourteen when I died, and since I was drawn in here before school even started, I would've been a freshman. At what school, I dunno. I don't remember where I was _supposed_ to go."

"Huh. You're a sophomore, Jacob? I could've sworn you were a freshman." Nathan said.

"Yeah, me too. You don't _look_ like a sophomore to me." Damien said, looking between F.Z. and Jacob. Jacob looked down at the grass, feeling both insecure and annoyed at the common assumption people made about him.

"I get that a lot. I don't know why people think I'm a freshman. I'm not! Look, here's my student ID." He reached into his back pocket and showed everyone a plastic card with his picture on it, identifying him as Jacob Martinez, 10th grade student at Ruby J. Fulton High School. F.Z. squinted her eyes trying to read the text on it.

"You know, maybe if I had gotten one of these, I would've been able to find it somewhere in this valley after my death. Then, maybe I'd actually know what my _name_ is! Hey! Maybe you all should try looking online to see if I was reported missing or something. I mean, I've been _gone_ for several months according to what you guys say about the date in the real world. My dad is probably going through hell wondering where I am every night – I don't know how the hell you'd go about telling him what _really_ happened to me, but... I'm pretty sure they would've written my name and description down, at least." She put her hands on her hips and sighed heavily, turning away from the group and trying to rack her brain for names that started with the letter F. Jacob looked down at his ID card for a second before putting it back in his pocket and said,

"Maybe we could try and jog your memory? How many girls' names start with F? Oh, man. I wish our phones worked in here so we could just open a list and go through _that._ They have whole websites devoted to naming your kids, I'm sure we could find your name on one of those." Lydia then returned at that moment, holding another stack of bills in her hand and tossing the quartz basket away, watching it crumble to dust as it landed on the ground.

"What's that?" Jacob asked. He was given his answer as Lydia handed him three bills, and was stunned into silence after realizing how much money it was – $300.

"Victor gives me money in exchange for the Shadow fragments. I thought you already knew that, right? He always seems amused by my reactions to getting that much money – I don't know if he really understands how much $1,500 is to us, even if it's being split up evenly among five people. It's yours! You can do whatever you want with it – just try not to be really obvious with your purchases, though." He noticed that she seemed to have perked up a little, her voice sounding less tired than it did before.

"Did you get any new Personas?" Nathan asked.

"No, I'm going to do that later. I can't really _think_ right now – I might end up fusing something I'll regret if I try to do it now. F.Z., open another portal. I want to go home and get some rest." F.Z. tore open another portal, and Lydia was the first one through it this time. Damien looked to F.Z. and said,

"You mentioned that your dad was probably worried sick. I don't think you ever told us anything about your family before. Looks like you're starting to remember more. I'll look up the missing persons reports for the area and see if you don't show up on them. Shouldn't be too hard." F.Z.'s eyes widened, and she looked away from him for a moment before making eye contact and saying,

"You do that. See if you can find out what my name is." He went through the portal. Allie touched the ribbon in F.Z.'s hair and asked,

"Do you like the ribbon?" F.Z. put a hand to it and nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, it's pretty sweet. Thanks for making it for me."

"Don't worry. We'll find out what your name is. I'll come back and tell you what I find as soon as I can, okay?"

"Alright." She went through the portal. Nathan came up to it and said,

"Uh, I guess I'll do what I can too. Heck, maybe when I go with the health club to the hospital I can ask if anyone's seen somebody who looks like you. They might've tried looking for you."

"Okay. Good idea. Later, Nathan." He went back to the real world. As Jacob walked towards it, F.Z. slid in front of the portal and leaned her back up against it.

"Hold on a sec. There's something I want to say to you, Jacob." Jacob moved back from her a little. She sounded like she was going to tell him off for something, and braced himself for a lashing out from the foul-mouthed, wavy-haired ghost girl.

"Oh, don't give me that scared look. I'm not gonna bite your head off. I just wanted to tell you that before you came along, I was the only one doing scouting for the team. You and your Persona can pretty much do that way better than I ever could, and you don't even have to _be there._ So don't go edging me out of everything, you got that? My role in QIB is small enough already, and now that you're here, you're starting to make me feel like I don't contribute shit anymore. I actually kinda like you, Jacob – and not like _that,_ okay? No, you actually seem like a pretty decent guy to me, which is why I'm bothering to tell you this in the first place. Don't go making me feel like I don't mean anything, you got that?"

She had said she wasn't going to yell at him, but the tone she had used was still threatening, even if it wasn't all that loud. He heard what she was saying, but didn't exactly feel like there was much he could _do_ about it short of just not showing up. He didn't want to have to avoid the group just because of _her_ – but since he could see where she coming from, he decided not to get too upset over the way she was treating him.

"Alright. I didn't mean to make you feel like you didn't belong. Trust me, I... I still don't know myself where I'm supposed to _be_ in my life. I don't know _what_ I'm supposed to be. Now, can you let me out? Please?" F.Z. nodded, standing up straight and moving to the side to let him through. Once he had gone, she looked over at the items Lydia had left behind and made a new quartz basket to hold them in.

"Hmph. Where am I gonna put these..." There were no trees in the valley to put them under, and the quartz deposits were all too jagged and uneven to rest the items on without them falling off. For a moment, she looked at the ground and thought about digging a hole – but the memory of what happened to her the last time she was near a freshly dug hole in the ground made her shiver, and she instead looked to the nearest mound of quartz.

"Guess I'm gonna have to make the quartz bend to my will again."

* * *

 **A/N: Arcana of the North - I think I've answered your question sufficiently. Yes, Lynne leads a life of her own, just like the people she opposes.**

 **SakuraDreamerz - I'm looking forward to seeing what you're capable of. And well... Rosalia _is_ Lynne's Persona, her other self. I suppose in the context of your words, that means she would be forcing _herself_ to go along with the plan, no?**


	35. Chapter 32

**October 4, 2015 – Sunday, Morning – Sunny**

Lydia came back to her room after eating breakfast to find that Allie had texted her, about five minutes before she got back.

"I looked everywhere I could, Lydia. There's absolutely no record of F.Z. anywhere on the missing persons archives. I even used that thing that lets you see pages as they were in the past – at no point in the last six months was she ever reported missing. You need to come with me and help me tell F.Z. the news, because I don't think she's going to take it well." Lydia closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

 _Okay... so she didn't show up on their records. Why? Would she have really slipped through the cracks? She has a father – one who certainly cares enough to go to the police as soon as he thought she was missing. Why wouldn't she have shown up? Looks like I'll have to go in and find out..._

She texted back Allie with,

"I can go right now, can you?" She put her phone down and noticed that her brother was poking his head into her room, with a frown on his face.

"Gerald? What is it?" He sauntered in and sat on her bed, crossing his arms.

"I didn't know mom and dad are letting you go to FantasyFlare with your friends. Why didn't you ask me at all if I wanted to go? I would've gone!" Lydia glanced towards the Velvet Room door, momentarily wishing she could use it as an escape. Of course, doing that would completely blow her secret in front of her brother, which would probably make him even more upset.

"Well... I mean, Damien had to finalize the reservations yesterday. We were already putting three people to a room, I don't think we could've added another person." Gerald rolled his eyes.

"Oh, puh-leese. I would _totally_ be okay with sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag or whatever if it meant I could see all the awesome cosplays and stuff! What, did you not want your _little brother_ embarrassing you up in Houston? I'm not even shorter than you anymore! I'm three inches taller! If I had any facial hair, I could _seriously_ pass for your _older_ brother! But nooooo, in a couple of weeks when you're kicking it at the convention center with Damien, Allie, whoever the heck else is going – I'm gonna be stuck at _home_ doing... I don't know, _homework!_ Homework, Lydia! What kind of weekend _is that?!_ " She honestly hadn't thought about bringing Gerald along. The things she did with QIB always felt like... some kind of exclusive club, or something. She didn't want to put her brother anywhere near the craziness she had gotten involved in, and that had apparently meant excluding him from everything even remotely QIB-related.

Lydia's phone vibrated and she instinctively went to check it, seeing that Allie had responded. Gerald saw this and gestured with his right arm towards it.

"Who's that? That one of the friends you're ditching your own brother to go hang out with?" Lydia was starting to lose her patience with him; he had a point about not at least telling him the situation before it was already set in stone, but he didn't have to be so... touchy about it.

"Don't worry about it. Gerald, listen – I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the convention. I've just been really busy with school and other things, okay? I'm not _trying_ to _ditch you_. I just... forgot, alright? I've had a lot on my mind lately." He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Like what?" Lydia looked away from him, out the window of her bedroom where some lady dressed in running clothes was walking her dog down the sidewalk on the cool Sunday morning. She was tempted to look back towards the Velvet Room door again, or at the vanity mirror that she used to both get ready in the morning and teleport to the valley, but instead she kept her gaze fixed at the neighborhood outside.

"I... it's private. It's... girl stuff, okay?" She moved her eyes to gauge her brother's reaction. He now looked confused, scratching his head and letting his arms drop to his sides on her bed.

"Girl stuff? What, is there some guy at school you like? Is that what's been bugging you so much? I mean, we don't see each other too often during school – hold on, it's not Damien, is it?" Lydia shook her head.

"So who is it, then? You know, I was always wondering when you'd fall in love again. I mean, after Alex died, I remember you were crying for weeks. Like, didn't you once say to me, mom, and dad that you didn't think you were ever going to love again? Has that really changed, Lydia? Have you finally gotten over-"

"Stop. Talking. I thought I told you _not_ to bring up Alex." Lydia cut him off, her voice coming through her teeth. Gerald's eyes widened and he understood that no, she _hadn't_ gotten over him yet. But if that was the case, then what was the whole business about "girl stuff" she was referring to?

"Okay, okay. Sorry. But what do you mean by 'girl stuff'? Aw... ugh, don't tell me it's _that kind_ of girl stuff! Sheesh, go talk to mom about that if it's... _that kind_ of problem." Gerald shuddered, getting up off of his sister's bed. Lydia sighed in frustration and sat down on her rolling chair.

"It's _not_ that kind of problem. Listen! I have my own life, and you have yours, right? You don't tell me every little thing that happens when you're with _your_ friends... actually, you only tell me what feels like ninety percent of every little thing. Sometimes it's overwhelming. I shouldn't feel obligated to tell you what my friends and I are doing. Neither should you feel _compelled_ to let me know things like how many frags you scored on your latest round of _Glory Calls_ , or what kinds of dumb things Don and Ron said to you, or about the details of shows I don't want to watch. Honestly? I don't _care._ " Lydia put her hand to her mouth the moment those words left it; she saw her brother's attitude deflate in seconds as he stood there, stunned. He began to walk to the door, looking down at her and saying,

"Fine. You don't care? Then I don't, either." He marched out of her room, slamming the door behind him. Lydia felt the sensation of time grinding to a halt, and before her appeared a card with a flame imprinted on it: the Magician tarot card, the one she remembered seeing when she had first established a Social Link with her brother.

The card turned around, flipping upside down. A red-hot padlock and chains appeared on top of it, looking like they were about to set the card on fire, but instead made it glow with a red aura that made Lydia sick to her stomach. She knew that she had said the wrong things to her brother, and as a result the Social Link looked like it was literally locked and chained down by the hurt she had inflicted on him.

The padlocked card faded away, and the normal flow of time resumed. The next thing Lydia heard was Ophelia's voice, speaking to her in a sorrowful tone that mirrored her own feelings.

" _The bond with him has been damaged. Your Social Link with him has been reversed, its development halted and its benefits suppressed. You... we will have to make things right in order to unlock the chains, to have an unrestricted bond with him once more."_ She nodded, putting both of her hands over her mouth. She looked over to her phone, where Allie's text still waited to be read.

 _I... I want to say I didn't mean it, but I did. I really **don't** care about those little details! I don't know how I'm supposed to tell him to stop talking so much without sounding mean! What am I supposed to say? I don't know... he's not going to want to talk to me for the rest of today, at least._

She picked up her phone and read the text message.

"Yeah! Just let me know when you're going to go in. I don't want to get there before you." She looked behind her at the mirror she used to go into the valley. She didn't have a solution to fix her problem with Gerald, and now Allie was asking her to tell F.Z. something that would undeniably send her into a frenzy. What were they going to _do_ about that? She didn't have an answer to _that_ question, either.

"Going in now. See you there." She texted back, looking for her mirror. There was no telling what was really going to happen with the ghost girl, and she braced herself for another explosion as she looked at her own blank expression in the mirror and warped into the valley.

F.Z. was nowhere to be found. Lydia called out to her, looking around to see where she had put the items she had given her the other day. She wouldn't have hidden them in the dungeons, but maybe near them, someplace? Someplace that wasn't immediately visible from the entrance?

"Hey! Uh... what time is it for you? You're wearing those slippers again." F.Z. pointed to her light blue fuzzy slippers, the ones that she hadn't bothered to change out of since it was still fairly early in the morning and she wasn't really planning to go anywhere today. She was about to answer when Allie came in wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants, barefoot and with her hair in a bun. She looked down and wiggled her toes on the grass.

"This really does feel like actual grass... hey, F.Z." F.Z. raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, it does. Both of you look like you're ready for bed. Is it nighttime over there, or what?"

"Morning. Where did you put the items?" Lydia asked. F.Z. perked up and pointed to one of the nearby quartz deposits, leading the girls over to it.

"Check this out. I figured if Sycophanta ever shows up here without you guys to fend them off, they'd probably steal our stuff. So... I decided to make a little hiding spot that they'll never notice." She crouched next to the deposit and dug out several handfuls of quartz dust, revealing all of their items tucked away in a hole that she had bored in it.

"See? They're all there. And to hide them again, all I do is put a quartz cap on it and when it disintegrates, it leaves behind that dust to cover it up. What do you think?" F.Z. created a circular piece of quartz to match the hole's size and put it in there, immediately turning it to dust to show Lydia and Allie how the hiding spot worked.

"That's pretty good! Now we don't have to worry about it." Allie said. Her head turned slightly towards Lydia, and she gave her a look that said she wanted _her_ to start off with the news about F.Z. not being in the records. Lydia figured the ghost girl was the type to not like beating around the bush, which meant she'd have to be blunt and direct.

"F.Z., Allie went and looked through the missing persons databases like she said she would. She couldn't find you. She looked through every listing in the last six months – you didn't turn up in a single one of them." F.Z. stood up straight, turning her head back towards Lydia.

"What?"

"You... you weren't reported missing. You _are_ from Texas, right?" F.Z. blinked, turning around fully to face the two girls. Her eyes darted between them, searching them for some kind of answer to a question she hadn't asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, I was born and raised in Texas – I've never left the fucking state, damn it! What do you _mean_ I didn't _show up?!"_ Allie hadn't seen this kind of temper from F.Z. in a while. Unlike when she and Damien were squabbling with each other, she understood why she was getting so upset over this and decided to say something to try to calm her down.

"F.Z., we know your dad would've reported you missing. There has to be some reason why you're not there – they keep the records for decades if they need to, which means that even if you were taken here long before we knew the disappearances started happening, if you went missing you-"

"Then what the hell happened to me, Allie? I'm not insane, damn it! My memories are _real,_ I _have_ to exist over there _somehow!_ I don't know... go back and check the obituaries! Maybe I somehow died in the real world, too! Or..." She trailed off. Lydia and Allie gave each other a nervous look, knowing the thought that F.Z. didn't want to finish voicing aloud. The circumstances behind F.Z.'s disappearance were still unknown. It was possible that the reason her father didn't report her missing was because _he_ was dead – but then, would that really mean there would've been no one else to say anything about his missing or perhaps deceased daughter?

"Don't jump to conclusions, okay? It's like Allie said: there has to be _some reason_ why you're not on there. I don't think it's because you or anyone related to you was found dead in the real world. I know you probably hate to be told this, but we'll just have to wait until more of your memories return. You're not crazy, F.Z. I promise." Lydia said, watching as F.Z. groaned in frustration.

"I hate this shit, this _waiting_ shit." Her eyes met Lydia's, and then met Allie's for a moment before pointing at her.

"Listen, Allie. There's... something in what I remember that maybe you can do something with. I remember a couple of the names of people I used to go to middle school with. If you can find them on Visage, maybe you'll find me too. I wouldn't be surprised if I was talking shit to people on there."

"Okay. Um, I should probably go get something to write their names down on. Could you...?" F.Z. quickly opened a portal for Allie.

"Yeah, yeah. Go." Allie went back to the real world, leaving Lydia and F.Z. alone together.

"You have a Visage, Lydia?" F.Z. asked.

"Yes. I don't really use it all that much, though. I've added everyone from QIB on it, but if we need to talk to each other, we have our phones for that."

"Uh huh. Hey, I remember hearing from one of the guys that you're not from Quartz. You're from some place called Crystal Rapids, way out in the west where it's all dry and full of plateaus and whatever? Why'd you come all the way across the state?"

"My dad got a really good job offer from some engineering company in Houston. I mean, six-figure salary good. Sooner or later Gerald and I would have had to leave our hometown for college, and there's no denying the Houston area's got _way_ more to do than Crystal Rapids. The only interesting thing there is the river rapids the town was named for, and... I was glad to get away from it all." Allie returned with a notepad and a pen. She looked at all the dungeons remaining in the valley and said,

"If I could draw, I think I'd spend a while here and sketch out the exteriors of these dungeons. I can't take pictures or video of them, so the only way to have any records of them besides our own memories would be to draw them. Maybe one of these days we can ask Jacob to bring his painting supplies inside. I bet he could capture all of them really well. So, F.Z., what are the names I'm going to be looking for?" F.Z.'s eyes lingered on Lydia for a second before she turned to Allie and recalled all the names she had given to Lydia some time ago.

"You said you don't remember where you lived, exactly?" She asked.

"Well, as far as I know it's somewhere in east Texas. It's probably Quartz, though. I mean, hasn't everyone that's ended up in this place _been_ from Quartz? At least, everyone we know about?"

"You have a point. Why just here, though? Why hasn't the valley been pulling people from anywhere else? What is it about Quartz, Texas that makes it the only place the valley can take people from? Well, anyways. It shouldn't take me that long to look these people up now that I know more or less where they're supposed to be from. I'll be back soon." She left through the still-active portal. F.Z. materialized a quartz crystal in her fingers and played with it.

"So... was your hometown really that boring? I wouldn't be surprised, west Texas is pretty much the middle of nowhere. Unless you're in El Paso, I guess." She was paying attention to not dropping the crystal between her fingers.

"It was really quiet. Everyone knew everyone else's business, which meant that it was difficult to have any kind of privacy. Crystal Rapids has about a thousand people living in it. Literally everyone went to the same school. The only _really_ interesting feature is like I said, the rapids. Pretty much everyone learns how to swim by the time they're toddlers so they can go on them, and it's the also the one and only tourist draw. Well, okay. We also had a really good area for stargazing. But when you _live there_ , that gets boring."

"Everyone went to the same school? Like... you had first graders in the same place as the high schoolers?" F.Z. asked, trying to picture herself walking down a hallway and seeing shrimpy little kids followed by seniors.

"We had separate buildings for elementary, middle, and high school, but they were all located on the same premises. The high school had around fifty-five students across all four grades. We had a six-man football team, four cheerleaders, and five dancers. When everyone _knows_ everyone, there's no escaping the drama. And trust me, there was drama." Lydia looked towards an empty area of the valley, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Damn. That sounds annoying as hell. What about here? Is it any better?" Lydia opened her eyes, making eye contact with F.Z.

"Sort of. There's so many people here that gossip and rumors at least take a little while to spread, instead of being in the minds of _everybody_ by the end of the day. I'd _say_ the Fulton dance team is about the same as the Crystal Rapids one, but there are these two girls in particular that have this feud going on between them that's been going on for _four years_ now, and I got involved pretty much because the captain of the squad seems to think I'm worth talking to. Her rival thinks she's just doing it to sway me over to her side, since I'm new and don't know them already, but I get the feeling that's not really it. I don't really know what Carla's intentions are, but she's never outright attacked me or made fun of me or anything like that. I don't know. The people here are definitely more varied, more interesting than the ones back home." She smiled, realizing that the girl in front of her was not-so-living proof of that. Even without her unique circumstances, there was no one like F.Z. back in Crystal Rapids.

"Sounds like you're glad you left. Not surprised, I think I'd go crazy living in a place like that. How were those rapids, though? You said they were pretty much the only reason anyone visited, so I guess they were pretty good, right?" She saw Lydia tense up at the mention of the rapids, breaking eye contact.

"...yeah. We had... sections of the river for pretty much all levels of rafting experience. They even went in order – the point nearest town was very smooth and easy, picking up speed and intensity as the rocky riverbed grew more and more complicated, and the Crystal River itself empties into the Rio Grande on a waterfall dropping a hundred feet." Lydia recounted the knowledge as if she was reading it out of a book that bored her to tears, mumbling through it.

"That kinda sounds cool, but you make it sound like it's just some creek. Did you not really like it? Was it the kind of place where everyone loves the rapids and you're the one person who doesn't, so you look like a weirdo or something? Honestly, if I lived there I'd probably hit up the rapids every chance I got until I could do it blindfolded. I'd be the queen of the river." Lydia's bored-looking expression remained unchanged by F.Z.'s words.

"I used to like it. Used to. Not anymore. Not after... not after what happened four years ago." F.Z. saw Lydia sigh, watching the portal close.

"What happened four years ago? Sounds like something really bad happened." Lydia turned away from F.Z., not willing to look at her. She fixated her eyes on the top of Damien's skyscraper, noticing that one of the windows was still broken. F.Z. expected her to say something confirming that something bad really did happen four years ago, but instead Lydia remained silent, staring up at the skyscraper.

"Hey. Lydia? You there? What happened four years ago? Did somebody die or something?" Lydia shuddered, her hands balling into fists. She closed her eyes, and rapidly blinked them before turning to face F.Z., who had stopped twirling the quartz crystal.

"I'd rather not talk about it." F.Z. held the crystal between her fingers and snapped them, making the crystal explode into dust. She crossed her arms, now _very_ curious as to what it was that had happened.

"Well... if there's anybody that you can trust not to give up your secrets, I think it's hard to do better than someone who has pretty much no one else to tell. You didn't tell anyone about _my_ past until I was ready to share it on my own, so you can definitely expect me to do the same for you. You can trust me, Lydia. You've earned _my_ trust." Lydia loosened her hands and put them together instead, twiddling her thumbs.

"Actually... I guess Jacob really was the only one that heard what I said that day, huh? The rest of you were too far away." F.Z. uncrossed her arms, recalling that right before Jacob rejected his Idol, Lydia had gotten real close to him and said _something_ that she couldn't hear due to being on the other side of the room.

"You told Jacob? So he knows what happened four years ago." Lydia looked down at the grass, which was still as freshly green as it had always been.

"Not in detail. I needed to think of something, _anything_ that would touch his heart enough to get his attention and reject his Idol. I wasn't going to lose two people that day, so... I told him that I used to be in love, with a boy back home – and that I lost him, that he thought I was the one who should've lived, not him. It happened at the _rapids,_ F.Z. _That_ is why I don't like them anymore." Her voice grew softer as she spoke, until F.Z. almost had to lean in to hear what she was saying at the end.

"Hold on, hold on. Let me see if I get what you're saying. You used to have feelings for a guy back home, and then something happened on the rapids where he saved your life but died to do it?" F.Z. waited for a response, which came in a form of a simple nod from Lydia.

"Holy shit. And considering you just told me that no one escapes drama in your hometown... damn, I bet _nobody_ left you alone, huh?" Lydia shook her head, and walked up close to F.Z.

"Let me go back to the real world. Allie will probably take a few minutes to finish looking up the names, which over here will be half an hour or something. I don't want to wait that long." F.Z. nodded, and opened a portal. Lydia shot the dungeons a glance and then said to F.Z.,

"I don't really know why I've never had to face my Idol... but I'm glad I don't have to. Keep that between us, okay?"

"Yeah. You got it. See you in a bit. And, uh... I'm sorry. About... the guy. I don't know who he was, but if he's the reason you're here right now, he had to have been a good one." Lydia closed her eyes, shaking her head slightly.

"Alexander. His name was Alexander Melvin Black. And... a good one, huh? He wasn't just a good one." She began to step towards the portal.

"He was the _better one._ "

* * *

 **A/N: With this chapter also comes updates for Halloween - Chapters 1 and 4 have been revised! Chapter 1 in particular has had a few things added to it that this chapter mentions.**

 **October Autumn - Give him time. Scanning isn't the only thing Jacob will be capable of.**

 **Thunderbird013 - Well, I kinda did something like that this chapter... though with my writing style, attempting to max out 20+ Social Links might take a very long time. Of course, Lydia doesn't even have to start them all to succeed, much less max them all - so realistically, I'd only expect to be able to max the Social Links of QIB members, Gerald, and maybe a few others. We'll see where that goes.**


	36. Chapter 33

**October 4, 2015 – Sunday, Morning – Sunny**

"Allie, how are you doing on finding F.Z. on Visage?" Lydia texted Allie as she laid down on her bed. After a moment of looking out the window to see a white car pass by, Allie responded with,

"I found the people on her list, but none of them mention her anywhere. All their posts are about other things, and I've been looking as far back as I can. I don't know what to make of this – the only reason I can think of is that F.Z. deleted her account with the Deep Wipe option enabled, which would've removed any instance of her profile from showing up in others' posts, and forgot she did so." Lydia sighed. No one really understood how F.Z.'s memory loss truly worked; somehow she remembered she had a Visage account, but apparently she didn't get back the memory of herself deleting it.

"Let me know when you're finished. We'll go tell her what happened."

"Okay. By the way, I thought you were going to stay in the valley."

"I didn't want to wait. Time moves more slowly here than it does over there, remember?"

"Yeah, you're right. Well, I'm done now. Let's go." Lydia went back into the valley and found F.Z. sharpening a piece of quartz with her fingernails. Allie arrived a few seconds later, still holding her pen and notepad.

"So? What'd you find?" F.Z. asked. Allie glanced at Lydia, and decided that she was going to speak first.

"Are you sure you didn't remember deleting your account? I found the people you were talking about, but there isn't a single mention of you anywhere. Either you never talked to them, or you got rid of your account using the option that removes all traces of your profile from the site and you forgot." F.Z. rolled her eyes and flung the piece of quartz away.

"You've got to be shitting me. Why is it so damn hard to find my own fucking name? And why would I _delete_ my account? I don't put up with other people's shit, and it's not like I would've done something illegal or whatever to get my account deleted by Visage. That doesn't sound like something I would've done." Allie looked down at her notepad, making circles around the names with her pen.

"Well... it's also possible someone hacked into your account and deleted it – but there's no way to prove who did it or if it was even what actually happened." F.Z. crossed her arms, looking over at Lydia and softening her expression.

"Do you have any idea what's going on, Lydia?" Lydia shook her head.

"I'm as clueless as Allie is. I guess we'll just have to wait until the next Idol shows up so we can defeat it and gain some more of your memories back. Hopefully there'll be something we can work with still in the back of your mind." F.Z. clicked her tongue, formed a piece of quartz in one hand, and opened a portal for the girls.

"Yeah, I hope so. Thanks for trying, anyway. I'll see you two whenever."

* * *

 **October 5, 2015 – Monday, Early Morning – Sunny**

Lydia and Gerald said little to each other on the way to school. Gerald had decided to listen to his own music, his earbuds creating a wall of sound that Lydia couldn't pierce except by shouting. When they got to school, Gerald took his things and went off on his own without saying a word to his sister.

 _Well, looks like I got what I wanted... just not **how** I wanted it. The silence would be so much sweeter if he wasn't still mad at me. It's just awkward and tedious knowing he won't at least say **something** to me._

As she approached the entrance she always used, she saw Jacob waiting by the door for her. He had been listening to music and pulled out his earbuds when she got close enough to him.

"Lydia. Hey." He put the music player away in his pocket and opened the door for her.

"Thanks. How are you doing?" The two of the began to walk down the hall.

"I'm... okay. Sort of thinking about what I'm supposed to do with myself now." Jacob looked over at her. They were pretty much the same height at around five feet and three inches and Jacob was pencil-thin, which was one of the reasons Lydia and the others had thought he was a freshman.

"You mean about Lana?" Lydia asked. Jacob sighed briefly, and nodded.

"I went and faced my Idol, and that helped a lot, but it still hurts. It hasn't actually made the pain go away. I... you and the others are the only ones that understand me. Most other people, they still see me as this shorty, this artsy wimpy guy who doesn't know how to keep a girlfriend. They wonder what she ever saw in me." He glanced at the spot that he remembered waiting for Lana at when she told him to meet her at this entrance; she had hitched a ride with one of her friends since her truck had refused to start that day and said she was going to show up at the east entrance. As he remembered, he had actually seen Lydia that day too, talking to one of the fundamentalist Christian girls that came here.

"It's not like I can show _them_ what you guys saw. I did better than guys like me usually do! I _had_ a girlfriend! It's not _my fault_ I can't drive yet." Jacob glared at an imaginary person standing against the wall.

"You shouldn't let other people determine your self-worth. Listen, Jacob – you're the only one at this school that knows anything about... my past." Lydia looked around to see if anyone was listening. There were a few other people in the hallway, but they were all focused on their own things – looking at phones, talking to their friends, or studying notes.

"I don't feel comfortable talking about it in the open. We should go to the library." She walked down the hall and led Jacob to the school library, where she could see a few people at the tables looking over their notes or reading books.

She looked over at the brown-haired librarian – the one that Damien had mentioned was his boss, Ms. Reed. One of the words that he had used to describe her was "emo", a word that she wasn't sure fit the thirty-something behind the counter. She was on the computer, looking with a half-lidded expression at whatever was on her screen. She wore a black polo shirt, had multiple piercings on her ears, and wore dark makeup around her eyes. She didn't bother to even glance at the two of them as they came in.

 _She's a little different-looking from the other staff, but she's not exactly what I think of when I hear the word 'emo'. She's certainly not like a couple of the students who come here, at any rate._

Lydia turned her attention to one of the tables towards the back of the library. She led Jacob there and sat across from him.

"What I was going to say is... I know what it's like to have everyone's eyes on you, to have people never leave you alone. You remember what I told you, right?" She stopped, not wanting to voice it out loud again if she didn't have to. Jacob nodded.

"Well... the police filed it as an accident. It _was_ an accident. But that didn't really matter too much; because I didn't try to stop him from going on the rapids that day – because I willingly joined him, it was partially my fault that he died. The people of my hometown never let me forget that, and I think it was half the reason we left – the other half being that my dad took a really good job in Houston. It stopped being _really_ bad once I got into high school, but every time the anniversary of that day would come around, people would shy away from talking to me for a while. I was always going to be the girl that could've prevented Alex's death and chose not to." She had looked at her fingernails most of the time she was speaking, and only looked up at Jacob when she was done speaking to gauge his reaction. He looked sad, as if he was imagining what it would have been like.

"Oh. I'm sorry you had to deal with that for so long... how _did_ you deal with it?" He asked. Lydia took a moment to think of a response.

"I just... at first, I kept trying to tell the people I went to school with that it wasn't my fault, that while we were stupid for going that far down the rapids alone, neither of us meant to put each other in harm's way. I kept trying to push people away, but all that did was draw more and more attention to myself. My parents and Gerald, they were the only ones that really believed me at first. I remember that my dad told me about how even though I'll never forget what happened, it was better for me to focus on my future instead of my past. My mom told me about how poisonous gossip was, that it made old wounds fester long after they should've closed up. Together they taught me how not to let other people's views of me hold me back." Jacob saw how she looked up and past him, probably remembering those days as if they'd happened only yesterday. There was really something _special_ about this girl, he knew it – which meant that she was definitely someone he had to get to know better.

"Do you think you could teach me that, too?" Lydia blinked. She looked back down at him and saw him beginning to lean forward towards her, as if he was itching to get started right away. All the lessons her parents had taught her in the last four years weren't exactly written down in a twelve-step plan or anything...

"Sure. I can try, though I don't know how much of it will make sense since your situation's different from mine." Jacob smiled, and nodded.

"That's fine! I just need to know I'll have your support. I know there's stuff about me that needs to get better, but I don't want to have to change _who I am_ to be happy." He said. Lydia heard the sound of shattering glass and saw the world around her come to a standstill again. Yet another tarot card appeared in front of her, this one probably the most obvious one since F.Z.'s Moon Arcana: the picture of the sun against a pink background, with the Roman numeral for the number nineteen at the bottom.

 **Thou art I... and I am thou...**

 **Thou hast established a new bond...**

 **In thee, the Beholder's sight grows ever clearer...**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Sun Arcana...**

 _Jacob's Arcana is the Sun. It's... supposed to be symbolic of joy, optimism, and happiness. He definitely seems optimistic about becoming a better person, and considering how many paintings in his dungeon were of Lana, he was probably really happy with her, at least for a while._

The card disappeared and time resumed its normal flow. The warning bell rang in the background, prompting Lydia to get up from her seat.

"Guess we gotta get going." Jacob said, standing up and putting his seat back in its original spot. The two of them made for the entrance along with the other students in the library.

"Hey, we should all hang out sometime. I know the group's all busy with their own activities, but the only time we're all together outside of school is when we're doing QIB stuff." Lydia glanced at Ms. Reed, who was watching all the students leave with narrowed eyes, as if she was grateful that they were all going away.

"That's not true. Sometimes we go to the Halborne Mall to get new clothes. Well... okay, technically that's _also_ QIB-related because of the enchantments, but it's not the only reason we go there. You're right, though. We do need to do something normal as a group again." Jacob nodded. Once they got to the stairs, Jacob stayed on the second floor and watched Lydia go down.

"Well, I'll see you later! Have a good day, Lydia!"

"You too!"

 **Monday, After School – Sunny**

"So, Lydia. How are you _doing_ today?" Lydia turned around to see that Carla was once again speaking to her alone, after everyone else on the dance team had left for the day.

"Okay. And you?" Carla shrugged, running a hand through her dyed red hair.

"Same as you, okay. Heard anything from Dawn lately?" Lydia rolled her eyes, which Carla saw and smirked in response to.

"Nothing you probably haven't heard already. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. I get a kick out of the bullshit she comes up with, so I thought maybe she'd have said something interesting to you. Guess she's finally starting to learn that you're not gonna budge. You're pretty firmly on my side now." Lydia watched Carla's dark brown eyes focus intently on her, like it was a look of possession. She was testing her, trying to see what her response was going to be.

 _Another move in this game of theirs. I'm starting to get fed up with being treated like just another piece on a chessboard. I **still** don't understand what Carla's motives truly are. I want some answers._

"I'm not on anyone's side, Carla. Why are you so interested in me, anyway? Is it just because I'm new to the school? Why spend time after practice talking to me when you could be doing anything else? Have you talked to any of the others on the team like you've talked to me?" Carla raised her eyebrows, still smiling. She certainly didn't seem _displeased_ that she was being questioned, but since she didn't respond, Lydia continued.

"I don't really want to be a piece in your chess game. I'd like to think that what you said to me when we first met about us being friends is true, I really would. I just need to know what I am to you. Am I your friend, or not?" Carla crossed her arms and tilted her head slightly. Her smile faded.

"It's because you say things like that. I don't think I've met anyone that has your perspective on things. Yeah, at first it was like you said, interest in the new girl. I wanted to see if you'd start something, or if you'd just be another team member I didn't have to worry about. I figured a girl from the boonies would've tried to be all peace, love, and harmony with everybody, but you didn't do that. You showed up, did what you're supposed to, and left without really making anything other than small talk with the rest of the team, like you had better things to do. That got my attention. You know what else got my attention?" She uncrossed her arms and put her hands on her hips.

"I heard that you stayed behind to console my enemy after I'd laid into her. Dawn told someone in my network, which of course meant it got back to me. That was when I knew that yeah, you didn't give a damn about who was right or wrong. You did what you wanted to anyway. You weren't _scared_ of us. Normally, that would mean I'd bury you – do whatever I could to make your life hell, so that you wouldn't be a threat to me anymore. But you don't _care_ about how you look to the other girls, or the guys, or pretty much anybody. You aren't interested in taking my place, in being popular – I've heard about your friends. You hang out with that nerdy chick Allie and her not-boyfriend Damien, with Nathan even though he quit the football team, and now you're even talking to Lana's ex-boyfriend Jacob even though he's a loser. It's like you're... above it all somehow, and now that you've confirmed that for me by saying you're on no one's side, I can say with confidence that yeah, you and I are friends." Lydia now felt that even though Carla had just answered all her questions, what she said only raised even _more_ questions than before.

"Really? So the only reason you're not bullying me is because I don't care about being popular, because I don't want to 'take your place?' Since I'm not your enemy, that makes me your friend? I would've thought that me hanging out with a bunch of people not in the 'in crowd' would've made me a loser, too."

"I feel like you assume I'm like those cheerleader bitches on TV. I'm real, Lydia. In the real world, people don't act like they do on TV. I _do_ care about people trying to get ahead of me, and I'll do whatever I have to in order to stay ahead. But you're not even running the same race as me. I hate the idea of wasting time and resources fighting people that aren't a threat to me. My parents taught me that if I want to be successful, I have to be able to _understand_ other people, know how they work so I can take what they teach me and use it to further myself. I respect _you_ because _you_ don't put up with people's shit, just like me – except you have different priorities. I want to see for myself what those priorities are. You and I are both busy with our own stuff, so we don't have very many opportunities to hang out together – but now that we've leveled with each other, I'm willing to make some time if you are." Carla pulled out her phone from her purse, opened a new contact on it, and gave it to Lydia.

"Here. Give me your phone and we'll exchange phone numbers." Lydia looked around for her bag and retrieved her phone from it, giving it to Carla and putting her number in her phone. The girls got their phones back and Carla turned around to leave.

"Maybe we can go to the mall together this week. I've been dying to check out the new arrivals at Everlasting, and I'm curious as to what your style's really like. I'm gonna go. I'll text you sometime." She left the changing room. Lydia looked down at Carla's contact info in her phone and shook her head softly.

 _She's something else. She says her parents taught her that understanding others is important, and yet she doesn't seem to- well, no. No, I actually think she **does** understand that she bullies others to put herself above them. She never said that she was taught to be **nice** to the people she was trying to understand – she probably thinks most people have nothing to offer and because I'm different, that makes me worthy of her respect since I apparently have something to teach her. She doesn't like any of my friends, but what she doesn't know is that she and Jacob have something in common – that they are both looking to understand something from me._

Lydia left the changing room and noticed that Dawn wasn't in the practice room today. She didn't feel like speculating about where the other girl was, and instead turned to look at herself in one of the many large mirrors on the wall. Now that the cold front had come and gone, the weather had warmed up to where it was now comfortable for her to wear skirts again. The past few days had made her feel like wearing something that stood out, and so she had decided to wear all white with the exception of her blue hair ribbon – a white sleeveless top, a white pleated skirt, and a pair of white flats that she hadn't worn in months. The outfit was probably worthy of being enchanted, now that she thought about it.

She watched her reflection stare back at her. It blinked when she blinked, breathed when she breathed, moved its head when she did. For some people, many of which she knew personally, it was in doing these normal, ordinary things that their idealized selves replaced their reflections, drawing them into the valley and pitting them face to face with their Idols.

 _I have one too, don't I? Everyone has an image of what they think the best version of themselves is, and the valley takes hold of that and makes it into an Idol. But because of Philemon, I can look into mirrors all I want and I will never see that other self replace me. I'm **special,** aren't I? I'm the girl who lived, the girl who leads a troop of people who fight with their other selves against something that's out to corrupt people using their own perceptions of themselves._

 _Why do I do this? Why did I agree to become the Beholder? Because if I hadn't, I would've been drawn into the valley and forced to face my Idol with no help? When Philemon saw the future, did he see me give into my Idol and decided that was unacceptable? He could've saved Lynne instead, protected **her** from her Idol and made **her** the Beholder so she would never have started Sycophanta, but he chose me. Was it because... in that other future, me giving into my Idol means I become the leader of Sycophanta instead, and for some reason or other am so good at it that no one can stop me?_

 _I don't know. I have no idea what's really going on, and I have no clue how I would contact Philemon again to ask him. Perhaps... I should ask Igor. If anyone would know how to get ahold of him, it'd be his servant, right?_

At that moment, a blue door came into being in front of her, seemingly replacing the mirror she had been looking into. It was another door to the Velvet Room, the one that Igor had promised would come when she needed it. Lydia nodded, walked forward, and went inside.

When she entered, she looked up to see Igor's ever-present grin once again, his wide-eyed stare on her as before. Victor was standing next to him as always, and bowed to her as she looked to him.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room. How may we be of assistance to you today?" The golden-eyed attendant said to her. Lydia looked at Igor and said,

"That door I was looking for finally showed up at my school. You were right, it came to me when I needed it most. I have to ask you something, Igor. Do you know how to contact Philemon?" Igor closed his eyes for a moment. He spoke as he opened them up again, saying,

"My master works deep from the space between dream and reality. He is freely able to move between the two, but he is the one who chooses when and where to go. He is, of course, always aware of what is going on with you; however, I cannot say what will cause him to speak to you directly." Lydia looked down at the table, disappointed.

"You can't tell me... because you're not allowed to, or because you honestly don't know?" She asked.

"I am but merely his servant, my dear guest. His will is beyond my understanding. However, do not fret. I can sense the many questions that weigh heavily upon your mind, and though the aid my assistant and I can offer you is limited, I can assure you that the answers to your questions _do_ exist, and that you will find them as long as you continue to search." Lydia was silent as she took in Igor's words. She glanced at Victor, who had been nodding along in approval.

"If I may, I think this is one thing that perhaps you and I have in common, Lydia. We are both possessed of a desire to search for answers about the things that were thrust upon us. I would like to remind you that I am still able to leave this room and experience your world – I will be able to explain more about the similarity then. In any case, would you like to make use of our services?" Lydia shook her head.

"Maybe later. There's a lot I need to think about right now, and I don't feel like doing fusions or enchantments. Victor, I'll take you up on your offer – not now, but soon." She got up from the chair and made for the exit.

"As you wish, then. We look forward to seeing you again."

When Lydia left the room, she turned around and saw that it was indeed still there, in the middle of the array of mirrors in the practice room. As she was thinking that it was going to be a nuisance to have it block her view during practice, the door turned completely transparent, its color and glow disappearing with only its outlines remaining.

 _That works. So, I can't talk to Philemon directly unless he wants to, but he's always with me, which means he can hear what I'm saying in my head. Philemon, when we **do** get a chance to speak face-to-face again, you're going to have a lot of explaining to do. Until then... I guess I should thank you for keeping me safe from my Idol. It's not something I want to think about too much. I already do enough thinking as it is._

* * *

 **A/N: Five weeks since the last update. For a while I had had trouble figuring out where to go next, and I had both my birthday and Thanksgiving to contend with last month, which slowed down progress even further. If you haven't seen it yet, I started an offshoot of this story called All the Myriad Ways, which is meant to hold the other alternate timelines, viewpoints, and other stuff that doesn't fit nicely into the main story. Want to see what some of the plot points from this story would be like if Alexander was the protagonist, not Lydia? Go check it out!**

 **SakuraDreamerz - A plot twist? Hm, I wonder what you came up with...**

 **October Autumn - Don't make me spoil the story ahead of time, lol. I always thought Shadow Yu would have served well as a bonus boss. Kind of like Margaret, but without the instant-kill Megidolaon.**


	37. Chapter 34

**October 7, 2015 – Wednesday, Early Morning - Sunny**

Lydia woke up and looked outside her window to see that it was going to be another warm, sunny day. As per Jacob's suggestion, the group was going to go to the Halborne Mall later tonight – except with a guest tagging along: Carla. Lydia had made it very clear to her fellow dancer that she wouldn't tolerate her making fun of her friends, and Carla promised that she'd keep most of her thoughts to herself.

 _She said she would try not to seem too out of place. I managed to convince the rest of the group that it'd be okay, but we'll have to see what happens later._

She got ready for the day ahead, and went downstairs to see that Gerald had decided to watch some TV while eating his cereal. He briefly glanced at her before looking back at the movie he was watching, which looked like some early 2000s action flick. It had been three days since she had hurt his feelings, and she hadn't been able to think of a way she could make it up to him that wasn't just a lame apology – until today.

 _If we're all going to the mall later... then I should invite him along, too. Hopefully he hasn't already made plans._

"Gerald?" She walked over to him.

"What?" He said, before eating another spoonful of cereal.

"I was going to go to the Halborne Mall later tonight with my friends. Do you... want to come with us?" Gerald kept his eyes on the TV screen, watching a car swerve into the frame and speed madly down an empty suburban street, followed by another car that was clearly trying to chase it down.

"I'd just annoy you all with all my talking, wouldn't I? No thanks."

"I'm sorry about what I said before. I... was upset over something that had nothing to do with you and I took my frustrations out on you when I shouldn't have. I could stand to be a little more patient, I know." Gerald sighed, and looked down at his cereal bowl before laying back on the couch and looking up at his sister.

"You're serious about that invitation?"

"Yeah. The others really enjoy having you around, especially Damien. I know you two were talking about all sorts of things last time. There'll be a couple of new faces joining us tonight - Jacob, who's a sophomore that paints stuff, and Carla, who's the captain of the dance team. She's a senior." Gerald nodded, sitting back up to eat some more of his cereal. The car chase on TV had apparently escalated to both cars running through several backyards, until the one in front broadsided a tree and spun out of control.

"Alright. Hey, though. Do you really think I talk too much?" He said, making eye contact with her again. There was no longer a hint of accusation in his eyes, and it looked like he had accepted her apology. Instead, his look was that of pure curiosity, as if he had really been considering that his tendency to talk and talk was getting on people's nerves. Lydia paused, not sure about what she should say to him.

"Like, I'm not gonna get mad at you if you say yes. The past few days I've been thinking about stuff; I remember what you told me about Betsy and how she told me that we didn't really have anything in common, so that's why she didn't really like talking to me that much. I figured that maybe it was like that with you - I mean, you don't watch all the same stuff I do and you're not into video games like I am. We have different kinds of friends - Don and Ron are really crazy compared to Damien or Allie. They're loud and hit each other a lot, which is fun for me. It's hard for me to see you acting like that, and even though I've only hung out with your friends once, I don't think they'd act like that either. So yeah, I kinda understand where you were coming from. You just didn't have to treat me like crap about it. I know, I know, you're sorry and you're trying to make it up to me by inviting me along this time. I'm totally down for that. I just wanted to tell you that from now on I'm going to try to talk more about things that actually have something to do with you." Lydia wondered if she still had to answer the question, seeing as he pretty much answered it for her already.

"There's nothing wrong with talking a lot. Like you said, it's more what you're talking _about_ that draws people in or pushes them away. Some people are totally open to listening and engaging in conversation about things they're not all that familiar with, but as you've learned, for others it doesn't really get conversations going."

"Uh huh. Gotcha. Well, looks like everything's peachy-keen between us again. You should eat something. Gonna have to leave for school pretty soon." After he spoke, time froze for a moment as the Magician Arcana card appeared before Lydia. She watched the padlock shatter and the card lose its irritating red glow, returning to normal once again.

 _"It looks like you've made things right again. Good work."_ Ophelia whispered to her. The card faded and time resumed its normal flow, leaving Lydia to look over at the fridge to see what was available.

When Lydia walked through the doors of the east entrance to Fulton, she saw Tori waiting for her and listening to some music through a pair of headphones that looked older than her. She saw Lydia and put the headphones down as she walked over to her.

"Good morning, Lydia!" Her outfit seemed to be a color swap of the last thing Lydia had seen her in; today it was blue and white instead of whatever combination it was before.

"Morning, Tori. How's it going?"

"It's great! I just got a new album to listen to. Would you like to hear some of it?"

"What is it? Who's the artist?"

"Marie Miller. She released a new album last week and I got my parents to let me buy it. Don't worry, it's not preachy. I think you'll like it."

"Okay. Guess that's why you're wearing those headphones that look like they're straight out of 1985." Tori chuckled and gave Lydia her headphones. She put them on and Tori started the track, and Lydia was treated to an acoustic guitar playing a hurried, melancholy tune. After a few seconds, a mezzo-soprano voice began singing these words:

 _The moon is full tonight_

 _Its light shines upon my heavy heart_

 _There's an echo that I can't shut out_

 _I try to turn my eyes away from the light_

 _But it's all I can do to try and let go_

 _Let me see the sun again_

 _Let me hear nothing but_

 _The silence that marks my solace_

 _I want to let it all fall away_

 _I want to become a child of the wind again_

Lydia looked up at Tori as the song continued into its second verse, who seemed eager for a positive reaction. It sure wasn't anything like the praise and worship tunes she generally expected out of Christian music - but then again, Tori hadn't said that it _was._ The song certainly had an element of distress to it, and Lydia wondered what would have drawn Tori to this kind of music.

"It's really good. What's the name of the song?" She said as she took the headphones off.

"Child of the Wind." She gave the headphones back to her.

"What made you want to get the album? Did you really like the artist before?" Tori put the headphones around her neck and looked down at the ground.

"Kind of. She used to be part of a Christian group called Overflow Project. Their music was basically Christian rock with a lot of acoustic guitar in there - which Marie used to play. They made one album that sold really well with Christians, and it looked like things were really looking up for them... until the lead singer and songwriter, Brendan Harper, got into a car wreck and lost his life. That was pretty much it for the group, and they all went their separate ways. Marie decided to start a solo career, Garret went to seminary, and Helena and Jake are part of another group called Risen Sleeper." Tori paused for a brief moment before realizing she hadn't actually answered Lydia's question.

"Oh! I'm sorry, that didn't have anything to do with what you said."

"It's fine. That was pretty interesting. I wouldn't have known any of that if you hadn't told me."

"Well, um, about your question... I'm not sure how to put this, but I guess you could say... it's something different. Something that still feels meaningful, but in a different way than what I'm used to hearing, especially around my family. My parents are pretty strict about what I'm allowed to listen to, so I was pretty lucky it was a name they already recognized. They're not all that great with technology, though, so I think if I really wanted to..." She didn't finish what she was saying, but the both of them knew the rest of that sentence - that she could listen or to watch whatever she wanted and keep it under her parents' radar because it didn't have the capability of monitoring Internet activity.

"...well, I don't want to go behind their backs like that. I'd never be allowed online ever again if they caught me."

"I'm glad you were able to find something that gave you a fresh perspective. I think that based on what I heard, it sounds like you want to hear about the sad parts of life, about how much it can hurt and how it's okay to acknowledge that." Tori blinked and nodded, somewhat surprised to hear it.

"Y-Yeah. I wasn't sure how to word it, but it sounds like you hit it right on the head." The bell rang after she said that, prompting her to look around and see that the halls were becoming very busy.

"I should go. I'll text you, alright?"

"Alright. See you later!" Lydia said as Tori walked down the hallway past Mr. Marshall's room. She briefly looked inside and saw that Damien and Allie were watching a video on Allie's phone, and then looked back outside to watch Tori disappear around the corner.

 _Not what she's used to hearing, huh. I don't know what would be worse: being constantly told how great everything is or being constantly told how horrible everything is and then having either of those things turn out to be lies. I guess in the second case you can at least hope for things to get better, but... well, maybe I'm reading too much into things. I don't even really know the details of what goes on in Tori's life._

 **Wednesday, Evening - Clear**

"So, Lydia... any idea on when Carla's gonna show up?" Damien asked as the group sat around a table, waiting for the red-headed dancer to arrive so that they could decide on something to eat.

"Yeah, uh, I'm about ready to just say, 'Screw it.' and start eating without her. We've been waiting for ten minutes already. You told her 6:30, right?" Nathan said, fidgeting in his seat.

"She might have had trouble finding a good parking spot? I mean, today's not Friday, so it's not super packed... I don't know. I don't want to wait too much longer, either. I'm hungry." Allie looked towards the entrance to the food court, with its array of glass doors and easily visible area in front.

"I think that's her over there, next to the cookie place." Gerald pointed in the direction he was facing, which was away from the entrance. Everyone looked over and saw Carla turning from the Awesome American Cookies at the corner of the food court, holding a bag.

"Well, if she's already eaten, then I guess we don't have to wait any longer." Jacob said.

"No, she told me she would eat alongside us. I think she just decided to grab her dessert ahead of time." Lydia said as Carla walked up to the table they were all seated at.

"Sorry I'm late. I hate having to wait for those cookies after I've eaten here, so I decided to go there first. So, you all must be Lydia's friends. I'm sure you all know who I am already, but I'm Carla. What do you all want to eat?" Nathan got up from his seat and gestured towards the Wendell's across from him.

"Burgers. I'm gonna devour the King of Bacon one." He then immediately walked towards it, Jacob rising from his seat and looking at Carla.

"I think I'll just eat some chicken nuggets from there. What about you, Carla? What did you want to eat?" She looked around and settled her eyes on the place called Jade China Express.

"Oh, I think some Asian food will go just fine with these cookies. Does anyone want to join me?" She looked over at the remaining members of the group. Damien shrugged and stood up.

"Sounds as good as anything else. Allie, Gerald, Lydia? What are you thinking you're gonna eat?"

"Think I'll go join Nathan and Jacob over there. Be right back." Gerald said, leaving to go to Wendell's.

"Yeah, I should get in line." Jacob followed him. Allie looked around and figured the sandwich shop was the most appetizing option at the moment.

"I think I'll get a turkey sandwich from the Sub Hut." She began to walk off in that direction, leaving Lydia as the only person who hadn't decided.

"I haven't eaten Chinese in a while. I'll go with you two." She said, and the three of them went and got in line. Carla looked at Damien and asked,

"So, Damien... how's it going? See anything good on TV lately?" She glanced at the t-shirt he was wearing, which was the one with Detective Aster on it from the TV show _Sinister._

"I guess you noticed my shirt. Ah, yeah, I think _Sinister's_ pretty decent. Used to be better in the first two seasons, but it's still worth watching even on Friday nights. I think there are several other shows on cable worth keeping up with - there's _Boston F.D., Justice & Judgment, Agents of S.W.O.R.D., Better Call Paul... _and that's not even counting what's on Zulu or WebFlix. What about you? What TV shows are you watching right now?" Carla thought for a moment, raising her eyebrows the line moved forward.

"A few episodes of this and that. I'm familiar with a couple of the things you mentioned, but there really isn't anything in particular you could say I'm _really_ into. It's more or less whatever's on at the moment and whatever my friends are talking about. I don't think their interests really line up with yours - you don't seem like the type to be into _Red's Hospital,_ for one. I seriously don't think someone like you would appreciate _On the Heels of the Hendersons,_ either." Damien shook his head.

"Yeah, that's definitely not my thing. But you're into that show? Why?" Carla looked to see that she was almost at the front of the line. She turned her attention to the menu items while still talking to Damien.

"I like interpersonal drama. I know it's supposed to be "reality" TV, but it's more-or-less just as manufactured as anything else. Still, I like watching the things they get up to, and while it's not exactly what _I_ want, I do like a lot of their lifestyle." The person behind the counter took her order, giving Damien a moment to turn to Lydia and say,

"You know, I didn't think she would actually make for half-decent conversation. I expected a lot less from her."

"I know. I was surprised too." Lydia responded. After the three of them had gotten their food, they returned to the table to see that everyone was already seated. Nathan had wasted no time in eating his burger, and was halfway done with it by the time they had taken their first bite.

"I see your appetite hasn't changed since you quit the team, Nathan." Carla said after eating some of her noodles.

"Hey, a guy's gotta eat. Besides, you can't tell me calling your bacon cheeseburger a King of Bacon isn't awesome. They even have a Prince of Bacon!" Nathan said, taking a sip of his drink.

"Memorable? Sure. Awesome? No. It's just a bacon cheeseburger, there's nothing _awesome_ about that." Carla responded.

"Uh, alright then. Whatever."

"Hey, Gerald. You ever decide to check out _Legion of Gladiators?"_ Damien asked.

"Yeah, I downloaded it and installed it last night. I have like, no idea what I'm doing. I mean, I get I'm supposed to kill other players and destroy their towers until my team can seize their fort, but like... yeah, I have no clue what any of the gladiators do and I'm pretty sure I died at least twenty times. But it's fun! I'm looking forward to playing with you and Allie some time." Allie adjusted her glasses and finished swallowing her food before saying,

"The way the game's matchmaking works, if you actually try to play PvP with us, it's either going to be way too easy or way too hard for you, mostly the latter. I've got no problem playing with a new player, it's just... it's definitely going to be smoother if we stick to playing against the AI, at least until you get the hang of the game."

"Yeah, and you probably played with at least a couple of smurfs in those first few matches anyway. Some people think they don't deserve to be in the bottom tier of the rankings, so they take it out on new players by making new accounts and stomping them." Damien explained. Gerald nodded, and took a bite out of his burger.

"I've heard those games have terrible communities. You get yelled at if you do any little thing wrong, even if you don't understand what it is you did wrong." Jacob said, remembering what he'd read on social media about them. Damien narrowed his eyes and said,

"People can be stupid as hell when it comes to MOBAs. They think they're good when they actually really suck, which means they think they can order people around. It's even worse when they really _are_ good. Allie, what did you tell me about Platinums or Diamonds?"

"Since they're actually better than the average person at the game, but not quite good enough to be considered top-tier, a lot of people in Platinum League get upset really easily because they think they deserve to be on top since they're clearly better than most people. Also, since everyone is assumed to be good, there's a much lower margin for error, meaning mistakes are not only seen more easily, but get punished more heavily. Basically... you're always going to have to deal with people getting mad at you - whether the fault was yours or not, no matter how good or bad you are. If you want to stick with it, you get used to it."

"I don't play these kinds of games, but it sounds like working at a really shitty job." Carla remarked. Damien chuckled.

"Well, in that case, I should be prepared to take on any job in customer service. It's pretty much the same thing anyway."

After everyone had finished eating, the group split up by girls and guys, with the girls heading to Everlasting. Carla turned to Lydia and Allie and said,

"So, what's your style like? Based on what you're both wearing right now, it's probably something pretty different from what I'm used to seeing when I'm with my usual group." Allie felt like she was about to be put on trial, and decided to answer her question with another question.

"What _are_ you used to seeing?" Carla smiled and shook her head.

"I asked you a question. Don't try and evade it." Allie sighed.

"Okay, fine. Honestly... this isn't even the store I'd go to first. I'd stop by Burning Words instead. The first time I came here was because I thought Lydia would've liked these clothes better. I used to think I wouldn't like it, but now I've seen that it's not so bad."

"Uh huh. So, have you bought anything from here?"

"Yeah."

"What was it?"

"Let me show you. It should still be here." Allie led the girls to where she had found the first dress she had bought. After finding it, Carla took a moment to look between her and the diamond-patterned black-and-white garment, and then looked at Allie and said,

"Alright. That's not too bad. It goes along with what little I know about you: a kind of subdued modesty, neither blending in with the crowd nor really standing out. Basically the type I can see Lydia hanging out with." Allie gave Lydia a questioning look as Carla turned her attention to the nearby racks of clothes.

"So... let's see, is there anything good around here for _me_?" The next few minutes were spent browsing for new clothes. Lydia and Allie listened to Carla give her opinions about their clothing choices - this one was okay for Lydia, this other one was bad for Allie because the colors clashed, that one was good for Allie because it made her look different in a good way, and everything Carla herself bothered to grab off of a rack was great.

Now was the time to try on the clothes that they had picked out. As they were approaching the fitting booths, one of the doors opened and a girl with a small white streak in her short, wavy black hair emerged with several hangers in her hand. Carla stopped and acknowledged whoever this was, smiling at her and her seven different pieces of clothing.

"Well, good thing we showed up when we did. How many selfies did you take this time, Morgan? If it's less than fifteen I'll be shocked." The girl was briefly startled by Carla raising her voice to catch her attention, and smiled back while narrowing her eyes at her in mock annoyance.

"Sorry, I only took _thirteen_ this time. I can already hear my Scrapbook followers bemoaning the thought! Where's the rest of your crew? I've never seen you come here by yourself before." Carla gestured with her free hand to Lydia and Allie, who took in the appearance of Carla's friend: a Hispanic girl about as tall as Allie, wearing a violet-colored top that exposed her shoulders and what looked to be a pair of jean shorts behind the various clothes she was carrying. She wore a pair of sneakers with a nebula design on them.

"I'm hanging out with a couple of different people today. Lydia, Allie, this is Morgan. She's kinda weird, but she's alright. She's part of the student council at our school." Morgan waved at them.

"Hey. Lydia, you're on the dance team, and Allie's part of our eSports club. Right?"

"I've never seen you before, Morgan. Did you just recently join the student council?" Allie asked.

"You all have fun. I'm going to try on what I have here." Carla said, going inside the booth that Morgan had just vacated and closing the door.

"No, it's just that I don't hold any special positions, so that's probably why you've never seen me before. Actually, if we hadn't met here, we probably would've met in the next couple of weeks at school - we're going to start selling homecoming stuff tomorrow and I'm one of the council members responsible for selling tickets to the dance on the 30th. You should both totally go to the dance - especially you, Lydia! You've never been to a dance with so many people before, I bet." Lydia figured that being friends with Carla meant Morgan almost certainly heard that she was from a really small town. She wondered what else, if anything, this person she'd never met had heard about her.

"I'm sure it'll be a great time. I'm looking forward to it." She looked over at Allie, wondering if she was thinking the same thing she was.

 _I hope our duties as QIB don't get in the way of this. Unfortunately, I have a sinking feeling that they will somehow._

"The school dances here have been pretty fun. I think you'd enjoy them." Allie added, returning Lydia's glance and hoping that they'd actually be able to do something normal without the Idols and Sycophanta getting in the way.

"Cool! Say, what are you two doing for Halloween? I know we've got homecoming like, the day before, but I was still planning on going to a Halloween party on the 29th. I'm going to cosplay as one of my favorite characters from the _Burning Sigil_ series, Michelle." Lydia had no idea who that was or what the series she originated from was, but Allie lit up at the mention of her.

"Oh! You played _Luminous Sunrise?_ " She asked.

"Mmhm! I actually started with the first portable title in the series - the first one in the West, I mean - but I really liked the fact that Michelle's a mage lord when all the other lords in the series are physically-oriented."

"Is that why you have that white streak in your hair?" Lydia asked.

"Oh, no. I know Michelle has white hair, but hers is actually a lot longer than mine, so I'm using a wig. This color here is just for fun."

"I bet I'm going to see a whole album dedicated to that costume on Scrapbook. Just like all the other ones you've done." Carla said from within the fitting booth. Morgan giggled and Lydia was starting to get an idea of who Morgan was: something like a model, maybe not serious about it but certainly interested in sharing lots of photos of herself with the world.

"Hey, I've got a couple of ideas for _you_ in case you ever want to try it out, too." She responded.

"No thanks. You'll have to find someone else to rope into your geek brigade." The redhead said from inside the booth.

"Well, I'd love to stick around, but I've got a ton of homework I've been putting off and I _really_ need to get home so I can start on it. I hope to see you both again soon!" Morgan said, and began walking towards the registers.

"Bye!" Both Lydia and Allie said to her as she walked away.

The trip to Everlasting yielded another new outfit for both Lydia and Allie, while Carla left with two tops and a dress. The girls met up with the guys midway between the two stores, with all of them holding a bag from Burning Words except Nathan.

"What did you all get?" Lydia asked.

"A couple of graphic tees. Couldn't convince Nathan to pick anything up, though." Damien said.

"Hey, I just didn't find anything I liked there. We've still got other stores to hit, remember?" Nathan said.

"I got a new hoodie." Jacob said.

"And as for me, I got another t-shirt too. I haven't even watched the show that's on it, but I thought it looked pretty cool, so I said, 'What the heck, why not?' and bought it." Gerald said. Carla stepped forward and spoke next, looking around at everyone and saying,

"We all managed to find something that worked for us. But Nathan's right, we've only just gotten started. Come on, let's go!"

After the trip to the mall was over and everyone went home, Lydia got a text message as she settled into her chair to work on her homework. It was from Carla.

"Had a good time tonight. Your friends are nice people, but..." The message trailed off. Lydia waited a few minutes to see if Carla would finish the message, but after no follow-up she figured Carla was waiting for _her_ to text back first.

"...but what?" She wanted to add something telling her not to badmouth her friends, but decided it was better to wait until _after_ she had actually insulted them in some manner before telling her off.

"They don't really interest me. Allie's into all sorts of geeky things and I'm pretty sure she's more comfortable in her own little world than stepping out and being a go-getter. Nathan bores me, as if he didn't already bore me enough when he was on the football team. I can't stop seeing Jacob as the bleeding heart ex-boyfriend of Lana. Damien is probably the least not interesting one, as he at least knows how to talk to people."

 _It's not exactly a list of insults, but it almost feels like they are._

"Who do you consider interesting, then? Besides me?" She asked. Carla took several minutes to reply, sending a message that was shorter than Lydia expected.

"People that have some kind of drama that I actually care to hear about."

 _That would explain why her usual circle of friends are a bunch of gossips, and why she's probably let the feud with Dawn go on for as long as it has. She not only **likes** that kind of pointless drama, she probably makes it happen herself if there isn't any around._

"So if my friends were more like yours, you'd want to get to know them better?" Lydia texted back.

"Of course. Except if they were more like _my_ friends, they probably wouldn't be _your_ friends, now would they?" Lydia was thinking of something to say to that when she added onto it.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to do anything to them. Remember what I said to you the other day. I want to learn what kind of race you're running, what goal you're after that makes you not care about the things my friends care about. Tonight helped me understand that." Lydia read the message and thought about it as she let her mind solve a set of math problems.

 _What goal am I after? I didn't really think there was some kind of overall thing that explained why I am the way I am. It's like she's trying to ask me what I really want out of life, and... I don't think I've ever really thought about that before. I've had enough to deal with right now as it is, I don't know anything about the distant future. But Carla's the kind of person who's known what she wanted to be since she was in preschool, I bet. She's already answered that question, and now she wants to know what my answer is too._

Lydia was broken out of her thoughts by her phone's text notification noise, and noticed that Carla had sent her another message.

"Oh, and since Morgan brought up the homecoming dance... you have _got_ to tell me who it is you're taking with you. That'll tell me a lot about you." Lydia sighed, and flipped her phone face-down.

 _I am **not** responding to that. I want to go to the dance, but I have not even thought about taking a date, much less about who it would be. I only really know three other guys at this school, and I'd probably just end up taking someone so that I'd end up paying less for the ticket. Not that it even makes a difference when I have a ton of money from Shadow hunting. I do know one thing, though: between FantasyFlare, the next couple of Idol events, and now homecoming and Halloween, this is going to be a really busy month. Really, really busy._

* * *

 **Original upload date: April 7, 2016**

 **A/N: Well, it's been quite a while since I've updated this story, huh? From here on out, I'm going to put the dates on which subsequent chapters were posted. That way, anyone reading this several months or years down the line can see how quickly (or slowly) it was made.**

 **Thunderbird013 - You'll see what happens sooner or later. Hopefully sooner rather than later.**

 **TheDarkestMind - Glad to have you! Hope you enjoy the story.**


	38. Chapter 35

**October 8, 2015 - Thursday, Early Morning - Cloudy**

Lydia was looking at her phone while eating some scrambled eggs and realized that she hadn't texted Lynne since their meeting last week in the hall. She had said that she would only respond to texts about normal things.

 _I wonder if her ankle's gotten better. I guess that would count as a mundane question, but she's probably heard it a hundred times by now. I guess I can ask her about the dance instead._

She sent her a text that read:

"Hey. What's up?" About a minute later, Lynne responded.

"Getting ready for school. And you?"

"Eating breakfast. I made myself some scrambled eggs."

"Sounds good. My dad generally does the cooking in my house."

"They're going to start selling things for homecoming today. Are you going to the dance?" There was a pause from Lynne as Lydia looked up at Gerald, who was watching the same channel as yesterday. This time it looked to be some kind of spy movie, as a man scaled the side of a building after shooting a hook into one of the windows. He got inside and immediately pulled up a holographic display from his watch, a virtual padlock being opened by a virtual key.

"Security cams are down. How are we doing on the patrols?" He asked. Lydia heard her phone's brief bell sound and looked to see that Lynne had texted back.

"It's not really my thing. I'd only go if I had someone to go with, and even then I'd probably just sit around most of the time."

"Are your friends not going either?"

"They decided to go to some Halloween party the night before instead. It's supposed to be this big thing, with $100 being given to the winner of the costume contest. It sounds more interesting to me than dressing up with an expensive flower arrangement pinned to your chest just to sit around." The way Lynne put it, she made it seem like wearing a homecoming mum was a complete nuisance - which was only the case if it was an overblown, unwieldy monstrosity of an arrangement that needed back straps to keep it on and was basically chest armor. Lydia chuckled at the thought of a slightly younger Lynne wearing just such a thing and hating every minute of it.

"Gotta go. See you at school." Lynne texted, leaving Lydia to finish her breakfast.

At the eastern entrance of the school, Lydia found Morgan sitting behind a table that had been set up by the doors. A few mums of varying sizes all bearing the school colors were set out beside her, with prices written on pieces of paper posted nearby. Another paper on the table outlined the prices of the tickets to go to the homecoming dance.

"Hey, Lydia!" Morgan called out to her. No one else was currently at the table, likely because this was the farthest entrance to the school and so was liable to see the least amount of people.

"Hey, Morgan. They have you here by yourself selling these things, huh?" She gestured to the mums.

"Yeah, well. The east entrance is kinda the furthest one away, and I'm pretty low on the totem pole, so this is where they put me. Wanna buy something? I bet you want to get your tickets early!"

 _Well, I plan on going to the dance regardless if I'm taking someone or not. According to the prices, it's not really that much more expensive for a solo ticket - but according to the paper, everyone who buys a couples ticket is entered into a raffle for some kind of mystery prize..._

"Let's say I buy a solo ticket now... if I change my mind later and want to get a couples ticket, will I get a refund on the solo ticket?" Morgan shook her head.

"The tickets aren't refundable, pretty much because of what you just asked. It'd be too much of a headache to deal with that sort of thing, and most people only buy their tickets once they're sure if they're going with someone or not. But... there's nothing saying you can't buy a solo ticket for someone else. Like, you _could_ give your solo ticket to another person and buy your couples tickets _later_ \- but that's only if you're willing to spend the extra money." She explained.

"I guess I'll wait then. I've still got the rest of this month to decide."

"Alright, that's fine. No need to rush just yet." Lydia wondered if Morgan herself was taking a date to the dance. She certainly seemed like the type who would at least be open to it.

"Hey, do you know who _you're_ taking to the dance?" She asked. Morgan's attitude seemed to deflate a little at the question, though she still kept her smile up.

"Yeah. Me. I've already decided I'm going solo. That's kinda how it has to be."

"How it has to be? What do you mean?" Morgan's eyes shifted to something else, and Lydia turned her head to see that someone else was in the line.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Lydia got out of the way and let the guy behind her purchase a solo ticket from Morgan. Once he had left, Morgan glanced at the door to make sure no one else was coming in and then took out her phone.

"If you want to know, add me. I'll talk to you later." Lydia put in her info on Morgan's phone, and then took out her phone to let Morgan put in her own info.

 _Morgan Hale. A member of the student council who apparently has something going on under the surface. I might have to keep an eye on her; depending on what she tells me, she could be at risk for being pulled into the valley. If there's any chance at all we can actually stop someone from having to go through this, I'll take it._

 **Thursday, Morning - Cloudy**

Lydia and her friends came across Lynne in the hallway talking to some guy they hadn't seen before. He stood a few inches taller than her, though her still being on crutches made her look shorter than she really was.

"Well, think about it. Let me know as soon as you can, alright? I'll see you around." The guy asked. He had brown hair that was spiked in the front, and wore a flannel shirt and tight-fitting jeans. No sooner than after he asked his question did he start walking in the other direction, briefly acknowledging Lydia, Allie, and Damien before leaving.

"Hey, Lynne." Lydia said, stopping to talk to her.

"See you later, Lydia." Damien said as he and Allie kept on walking.

"Who was that?" Lydia asked. Lynne sighed and looked down the hall where the guy had gone.

"A friend of mine. He just asked me to be his date to the dance."

"Wow, talk about not wasting any time. You said you weren't going to go unless it was with someone... but I guess since it probably came out of nowhere for you, you didn't give him an answer."

"Not exactly. I think if it had been anyone else besides him, I would've immediately said no. With Roy, it's different. He makes the dances actually fun. Or at least, he tries his best to do so."

"I guess he's one of those 'life of the party' types? Had you gone with him to dances before?" Lynne shifted her gaze towards the nearest window and looked out at the gray rain cloud that was hovering several miles away.

"Mmhm. He's... well, I've never heard him say this, but I wonder if he isn't trying to tell me something by always coming to me first when it comes to dance dates. I mean, the other guys I know either clearly show no interest in me that way or couldn't be subtle about it if they tried. And it's not like he's trying to hide something by always having a date to every dance. I've asked him that before. I remember what he told me then, he said: 'Lynne, I'm not gay. I'm also not a horndog either. I just want to have fun while I can. We don't get to do high school twice; I want to make as many memories as I can while I'm still here.' I guess I should have also asked him why he always defaults to me, but it didn't come to my mind then." She sighed, shaking her head as if she was reprimanding herself for saying too much.

"Enough about that. I'm finally getting this cast off today. It'll be great to actually walk properly again... and people can stop asking me when I'm getting it off." Lydia looked down at the white cast with various scribbles on it, most of them signatures.

"I see. Well, I know we need to get going, but about Roy... he sounds like an honest person. He doesn't sound like the type who would have ulterior motives for doing something. From what you've told me, he might not be all that straightforward, but I don't think you have anything to worry about with him. And if you don't want to go the dance, I don't think it'll bother him." Lynne glanced at her before looking at the ground.

"Yeah, I know. I just need to figure out if I want to do this again or not. I'll talk to you later, Lydia. I need to go." She turned around and began moving in the other direction.

 _This day's sure been full of partial stories. It's not even lunch yet! But speaking of inviting another person to do something with them... I think now's probably the best time to take Victor up on that offer of his. Next week will be the Idol event and the closer homecoming gets, the busier things are going to end up._

 **Thursday, After School - Cloudy**

"So, Dawn... how long after our practice is over do you usually stick around?" Lydia asked. The green-eyed brunette was currently the only thing keeping her from jumping into the Velvet Room to go inform Victor that he'd be able to come to the football game tomorrow night. She did a cartwheel and stretched after landing.

"As long as I need to. Why, am I in your way?" Lydia pursed her lips. Yes, she very much was, but there was no way to _explain_ why. There _was_ the option of just going home and using the door there, but something had popped up that Lydia hadn't considered until earlier today.

 _Victor sticks out like a sore thumb even without the Velvet Room's bellhop outfit. Homecoming is right next to Halloween, so while he wouldn't stand out as much then, I'm going to be too busy that night to keep an eye on him. I need to get in there to ask him what size clothing he wears so I can buy him something that will help him blend in, but the longer Dawn hangs out here, the less time I'm going to have to head to the mall before someone at home asks me why I've bought men's clothes._

"If you want to practice here, go ahead. I don't care as long you don't get in my way." Dawn said, before rehearsing her part in the upcoming routine again. Lydia was about to turn around and leave when her phone played a particular loud jingle that could only mean one thing: Gerald was calling.

"Take that crap outside! It's distracting!" Dawn shouted. Lydia rolled her eyes and left the practice room, answering Gerald's call.

"Hello. What's up?"

"Hey, you're gonna have to take me home. Don got grounded, so he's not allowed to have any friends over until he's out of the slammer. Don's mom was the one ferrying us around, so I'm not gonna be able to hang out with them for a while."

"Okay... well, I guess I'll see you at the car."

"'kay, bye!"

 _Well... I'm not going to give up on this. I'll just go after dinner, then. That means I'm going to have to knock out as much homework as I can to make sure my parents actually let me go out to the mall two days in a row._

 **Thursday, Evening - Cloudy**

After about an hour and a half of powering through next week's history and physics homework, Lydia put down her pencil and marched into the Velvet Room, where she immediately stood up and pointed at Victor.

"I need you to tell me what size clothing you wear. If you're going to go somewhere with me in my world, you need to be able to blend in." Victor blinked at her, stunned for a moment by how quickly she spoke. He then nodded and snickered, moving from his spot at Igor's side towards the drawers beside the Velvet Wardrobe. Rather than open one of the drawers to pull out one of the pieces of clothing inside, he merely took hold of one of the handles and closed his eyes for a second before letting go.

"I believe that according to the United States customary system, the measurements of my clothing would be as follows." He began to list off numbers that were exceedingly precise - Lydia had to tell him to round it to the nearest whole number after he had gotten past the sixth decimal place. After she had made sure she remembered the numbers, he smiled at her and put his hands together.

"I believe this is the first time a guest has ever deigned to dress up one of us. My siblings' uniforms did not seem to cause any trouble when they were invited to spend time in your world alongside their respective guests, but if you believe my uniform would cause problems while I am visiting then I will defer to your judgment. I am looking forward to seeing what you choose for me."

"Don't worry. I think I can find something that'll suit you." Lydia said, and left the Velvet Room as quickly as she came. She then gathered her things, put the measurements in her phone, and went downstairs to where her parents were in the living room watching TV.

"Lydia? Where are you going?" Her dad asked.

"I wanted to do some more shopping at the mall. I just finished a lot of homework, so don't worry about me falling behind."

"You just went yesterday with your friends, didn't you? Did something go on sale today?" He asked. Lydia's mom got up from the couch and moved to go to the kitchen.

"I don't mind you going as long as you come back home before it gets too late. I guess you didn't notice, but I peeked into your room earlier and saw you staring into one of your textbooks." Lydia's mom said as she reached into a cupboard and pulled out a bag of popcorn from a box.

"As long as you keep up with your schoolwork and don't get into any trouble, I'm fine with you going right now. Now if you start going shopping every single _day..._ " She trailed off as she put the popcorn into the microwave.

"That's what my computer's for. Don't worry, I won't be out late!" Lydia said as she glanced over at her father, who nodded in acknowledgment.

"Be careful!" He said as she grabbed her car keys and left the house.

Since Victor would wear whatever she decided was appropriate, that meant she could head into the American Falcon store and quickly pick out something that fit. Victor's normal outfit was a dark blue vest with black pants, with only touches of gold here and there. That led her to pick out a short-sleeved button-up shirt with a faded red color, with a pair of khaki shorts. She was in the middle of looking at another shirt when her phone's text notification sounded.

It was from Morgan.

"Hey! What are you up to right now?" Lydia looked at a black, long-sleeve shirt, took it off the rack, and then responded.

"Shopping. You?" She went over to look for a pair of jeans.

"Being bored. Listening to music." Victor seemed like the type who would appreciate a regular fit more than a slim fit, and the faded look would go well with the shirt. She got the pair of jeans and then decided to look for a pair of shoes. It occurred to her while she was walking across the store that Morgan had texted her sooner than anyone else she had met so far.

"What kind of music?" A pair of black sneakers would do just fine, Lydia thought. She then looked around for something for herself, so that when she was inevitably asked what she bought she could have something to show that wouldn't raise too many questions.

"A little of this, a little of that. Currently listening to some electronica." A black t-shirt with a starry background and a silhouette of the moon caught her eye. It probably wouldn't hurt to look for a jacket - it wasn't quite _cold_ yet, but sooner or later it was going to be...

"So, have you gotten used to Quartz yet?" Morgan asked. Lydia looked around the store for a jacket that suited her tastes, but was disappointed at the selection they had. She'd have to find it some other time, then.

"I'm starting to get comfortable with it. I'm still surprised at seeing all these people around sometimes." Lydia responded to Morgan's text while she was in the checkout line. The Halborne Mall might not have been terribly large, but to her it still felt like a luxury - a novelty that hadn't worn off yet. There were more people gathered at this place on Friday nights than there were people in the entirety of Crystal Rapids; here, she was just another face in the crowd, able to do what she wanted without worrying about the prying eyes of other people.

"Cool. We should hang out sometime." Morgan texted as Lydia went up to the cashier. After paying for the clothing, she left the store and responded to the text.

"Sounds good. When are you free?"

"Will be easier to call you and tell you. Is that alright?" Morgan asked.

"If you can wait until I get home." Lydia responded.

"'kay." At least Morgan bothered to type out more than one letter, she thought.

Lydia returned home and found that her parents were in the middle of watching a movie. There was a bowl with leftover popcorn kernels between them, and the lights had been turned off. On the TV screen, a young woman rolled over in her bed and stared at the ceiling while a flash of lightning briefly illuminated her bedroom, following by a loud crack of thunder.

"Hey. Did you find what you wanted?" Lydia's mother asked.

"Yeah. What are you watching?"

"It's called _Dearly Departed._ It's about a woman who survived an accident that killed her newlywed husband and now he's haunting her because she was responsible for it." She answered. The young woman on TV sighed, putting a hand to her forehead and saying,

"I don't know how many times I can say I'm sorry. What do I have to do for you to forgive me?"

"Is it a horror movie? It sounds like one." Lydia asked. Lydia's father shrugged and reached for the popcorn bowl only to find there were no more edible kernels inside.

"I wouldn't say so. It's more of a supernatural drama. It's been worth the watch so far. Could use some more popcorn..." He got up from the couch and went over to the kitchen to get another bag.

"Do you want to watch it with us?" Lydia's mother asked.

"I was going to call someone I just made friends with the other day. I was texting her while I was at the mall."

"Oh, okay. I'm glad you've been making so many friends here. You _and_ your brother, the both of you have settled in really well since we came here. I was worried that since this is such a different place you might have had a hard time adjusting - but it looks like the two of you have been just fine." Lydia's mother smiled at her.

"Yeah. It's been... it's been really good, so far. I like having a new start. I think it's probably been good for all of us." She said, looking over at her father who had just started up the microwave. He turned around and walked over to her.

"Remember, we're here for you. There isn't anything you can't talk to us about. I mean it. You shouldn't have to worry that we won't try to understand, or that we'll think it's too insignificant. We'll do our best to listen to you, to make sure you have someone that will support you no matter what. We want you to be able to trust us with anything that you might be keeping to yourself, okay?" He had folded his hands together. The popcorn began to pop in the background, and on TV the young woman had gotten out of bed after seeing a shadow illuminated by the lightning.

"That means we promise we won't be judgmental. Now, that doesn't mean we're going to be anything less than completely honest with you, either - but I know I've been too impatient with you and Gerald in the past. I'm trying my best to work on that. What I'm saying is that I'm not going to make assumptions, I won't say anything until I've heard you out in full. Okay?" Lydia gripped the bag she was holding tighter and nodded.

"Okay. I understand. Thank you." She stared at the microwave instead of him, watching the bag of popcorn expand as its kernels exploded from the radiation, releasing their buttery smell. She watched the bag slowly rotate as the tray underneath spun around and around, silent until her father turned around and stopped the microwave before it began to burn the popcorn.

"Did you want some? We might not be able to finish it all." He said. She nodded, looking away from the microwave and towards the stairs.

"Sure. Let me just go put these up."

"I'll take it up to you." He said as she went for the stairs.

 _They want me to be able to tell them **everything?** Does that really count when that would include telling them how I risk my life on a regular basis to save people I don't even know? There's no way they would just **let me** continue if they found out. They already had to go through the horror of almost losing me once; there's no way I can let them constantly live with the fear of losing me every single month. I can't just stop doing this, though. There are too many people counting on me now for me to stop. _

She went into her bedroom and put the bag next to the Velvet Room door before falling over and landing on her bed. She took her phone out and looked at Morgan's name on the screen, hoping that the call would take her mind off of things. Her father came up with a small bowl of popcorn.

"Feeling tired?" He asked. She took the bowl of popcorn from him and put it on her stomach, eating a handful of it as he placed a couple of napkins on the bed next to her.

"A little. I might go to sleep early tonight."

"Okay. I'll tell Gerald not to make too much noise, then. Good night."

"Good night." He leaned down to kiss her on the forehead.

"I love you."

"Love you too."

When he left, Lydia raised her phone above herself and called Morgan. She put the phone next to her ear and ate another handful of popcorn as she waited for her to answer.

"Helloooooo?" Morgan said happily.

"Hey. You said you were going to tell me when you could hang out."

"Yeah! I know you're going to be busy tomorrow with the game and stuff, but how does the weekend look for you? I'm not doing anything then."

 _I think we're supposed to be training on Saturday. But that's only in the morning; we probably won't push ourselves so hard that we can't do anything the rest of the day._

"I've got something Saturday morning, but besides that I don't have anything else planned for the weekend. When would be best for you?"

"Ummmmmm... I guess in the afternoon. Do you think we could eat lunch together?"

"Where at?" Lydia ate some more of her popcorn.

"I was thinking Arnie's? Is that okay?"

"That's the place that sells the roast beef sandwiches, right?" She had heard of the chain, but had never stepped foot in one before.

"Yeah. There's one over close by Quartz East. Apparently people from there hang out a lot after school, but I don't know how busy it is on the weekends. Just call me whenever you're done and I'll head over there." Lydia ate some more popcorn, closing her eyes and taking a breath before speaking again.

"Hey, I know you wanted to tell me about what you said this morning, but... I need to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Have you... ever had something going on in your life that you want to tell other people about, but you're afraid that they won't... understand?"

There was a moment of silence on Morgan's end of the line. Lydia heard something ruffling in the background before she responded.

"I think everyone feels like that at some point. I know I have a few things I'd rather keep to myself, too. Why do you think that people won't understand?" Lydia ate some more popcorn and closed her eyes.

"It's... if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. It's not something people normally go through - I don't think anyone has ever experienced something like this before."

"Really? Well, now you've got my attention. The way you're talking, you make it sound like it's a bad thing, though." Another handful of popcorn went into her mouth.

"It's... both good and bad. It's just..." She trailed off.

 _I don't know if Morgan would believe me, either. I just met her yesterday, and she's connected to the gossip network at school. She doesn't seem like she would blab to everybody, and yet... I don't know if I can trust her._

"I need to be very careful about who knows. If the wrong people learn what's going on, it could turn from being both good and bad to just really, really bad. I don't mean to insinuate anything, but that means I can't tell you what it is. Not yet. I have to be certain you won't tell _anyone."_ She ate some more popcorn.

"What is that? Are you eating something?" Morgan asked.

"Popcorn. Movie butter flavor."

"Right, okay. The 'wrong people'? It sounds like you're in some secret spy group or something." Morgan paused for a moment.

"Hold on! If you really didn't want me to know, you wouldn't have said anything about it. You would've just skipped straight to asking me what I was talking about this morning. So you _do_ want to tell me - maybe you even want to recruit me - but I have to pass your tests to make sure I'm a good fit, is that it? Oh ho ho, that is so cool. Alright, I'm in. Tell me what I have to do in order to gain your trust. I swear on my collection of fuzzy dice that I won't tell a soul." Lydia sighed, opening her eyes again.

"This isn't- it's not a game! There are serious consequences associated with what I'm involved with. Even I don't fully understand what's going on with it, I-"

"Are you being forced by someone else to do it?"

"What?"

"I said, is someone else making you do whatever this is you're not telling me? Because if not, and if you're doing this of your own free will, what makes you think there aren't other people out there who would also want to join in? You don't sound like some crazy conspiracy theorist; whatever it is you're involved with is probably something that really needs attention!" Lydia reached for some more popcorn, but decided against it. Damien was a prime example of what Morgan had said about people wanting to help once they found out, and just like he insisted on seeing it for himself, Morgan was determined to find her way into this mess one way or another.

"The only person making me do it is me, okay? And... you're not going to let this go now, are you?"

"Nope!" She chimed. She followed up with,

"There's a chance you _might_ be making this all up. I don't care if you are! I'd be impressed at how well you pretended, actually. But you've piqued my interest now, and I can't resist the idea of something actually _cool_ happening in this world. I get it, it's not a game. You probably take a lot of risks, and you probably also think I have no idea what I'm getting into... but you'd be surprised at what I'm willing to accept. Please, Lydia. I know I'm being annoying and pushy, but... I really want to give you someone else to tell, someone you can confide in. That's what you wanted, right? That's what you asked me a minute ago?"

 _It's more like I want to be able to tell my family about what I'm doing without hurting them. But Morgan can't really help me do that. She wants to get sucked into the valley, have us beat up her Idol so she can get a Persona, and then join us because she has some kind of lust for excitement and adventure. There are too many factors now for her to just do what Damien did - Sycophanta always shows up now when people face their Idols and I didn't plan on doing anything other than routine training this weekend! She just can't butt in like this!_

"Would you still be willing to listen if I told you I didn't want you anywhere near my business?" Lydia said, moving the popcorn bowl off of her and sitting up in her bed.

"W-What? Where'd _that_ come from?" Morgan said, perplexed. Lydia clenched her phone and briefly considered just hanging up on Morgan and never talking to her again, but fell back down on her bed and groaned.

"It's... I'm sorry I said that. I've been really stressed, alright? I can't even tell my parents about it even though they just got through telling me that I _should_ be able to talk to them about _anything!_ It's stupid!"

"I think it sounds like you've been bottling up that frustration for a while, like you've had to deal with this all alone. You don't have to go it alone. Hey, what about Allie? Does she know about this thing you can't tell me?" Lydia blinked, putting her free hand on her forehead.

"I... yes, she does. We both got involved at the same time."

"So... okay, so why you haven't you talked to _her_ about this? I mean, is there something allowing _her_ to tell people about it but not you?"

"No, I just... you know, you're right. The rest of the group has to keep their mouths shut just like I do. I don't know how they deal with it; none of us have ever really brought it up - I guess I just assumed they never had any problems because of it."

"A whole group, huh? So it really is like some kind of spy thing, isn't it? That's so cool." Lydia could hear Morgan trying to hold back her excitement.

"Listen. You're not the first person to want to join for those kinds of reasons - but the thing is, the... initiation process is more dangerous now than it used to be. I don't know that it'd be safe to let you join us directly. But if you really want to know about it, I'll have my friends show up at your table tomorrow before school starts. You'll still be there, right?"

"Yeeeeep. They wanted me to do it every day both before _and_ after school until the dance, but I was like, 'No, there are like six other people that aren't tied up and there are only three entrances we have to worry about.' So they have me doing just the mornings while someone else handles the afternoons."

"Okay. We'll talk more about it then. Oh, man. All of this and I still haven't asked you what you meant this morning. You said you weren't taking anyone to the dance, that you said that's how it had to be. Are your parents not letting you do that, or something?" Morgan giggled, a reaction Lydia didn't expect.

"No, that's not it. It's just... well, there's only so much I can allow myself to do."

"Huh? What does that mean? You have some kind of personal rule that says you can't take a date to a dance?"

"Or go on any dates at all, for that matter. I can have as many friends as I want, but even potential romance is just out of the question for me."

"Not that I think it's a bad thing, but why? Is it because you're worried you'll have to break up once you graduate? Or maybe you've got enough going on in your life already? Just not ready for a relationship yet?" There was still some popcorn left. Lydia pulled the bowl over and ate some more.

"Mmmmm... those are all good points, but nope! It's something else."

"Are you going to tell me what it is, or is this going to turn into a quid pro quo exchange? I tell you what I'm hiding and you tell me what you're hiding?"

"No, no, I'll tell you. It's because I made a promise to myself a while ago. I promised that I was going to abide by my own boundaries with people, because when I overstep those boundaries, bad things happen. Relationships get ruined, people start hating me for putting myself where I shouldn't, and eventually I just end up alone." There was a moment of silence between the two before Morgan picked up where she had left off.

"I know it sounds hypocritical, me saying how it's bad that I'm nosy while I'm bugging you to give up one of your biggest secrets. I won't blame you if you really want me to stop pestering you about it. It's just... it sounds like you really need someone to talk to, and I'm just a sucker for the idea of going on an adventure. Please stop me if I'm just rambling, because I'll probably just keep talking until I have no idea what I'm saying anymore."

 _Well, Carla was certainly right about one thing. Morgan **is** kinda weird. I didn't expect to have a talk like this with someone that hasn't already faced their Idol. I wonder if that happy demeanor is really masking some kind of sorrow she doesn't realize she's holding in. Maybe she just wants a friend she can have a heart-to-heart with. If nothing else, she really does seem like someone that might get pulled into the valley. Getting to know her can only help, even if that doesn't happen._

"Lydia? Are you still there?" She said.

"Yeah. Morgan, you don't have to worry. You're not a bother to me. You can never have too many friends, and I'd be glad to have you as my friend." A piece of glass shattered in her ear, startling her and causing her to almost knock over the bowl of popcorn. Time slowed to a standstill as a new tarot card appeared floating above her head, this one with a golden border instead of the off-blue all the others were. In the middle was some kind of large-bellied figure with a headpiece and a staff, with some kind of ruby emanating energy underneath it. At the bottom of the card was the Roman numeral for twenty, and then she heard these words:

 ** **Thou art I... and I am thou...****

 ** **Thou hast established a new bond...****

 ** **In thee, the Beholder's sight grows ever clearer...****

 ** **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Aeon Arcana...****

 _Another strange Arcana... I don't even know what this one is supposed to mean. It has the same number as Judgment, but considering Lynne had a pretty different number eleven card with Hunger, whatever this Aeon means is probably not the same thing as Judgment. A golden border, too. Not even Lynne's card had that. But then again, I haven't even seen half the Arcana yet. For all I know they have the entire rainbow covered by the borders._

The flow of time resumed, and Lydia immediately heard Morgan's voice through the speaker.

"I'm glad to hear that. Well, I think we've had a pretty good talk. I should let you go; I've got a lot of stuff to do and if I don't get to sleep on time, I'm going to be really groggy in the morning. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Even if I can't join your group, at least we can still hang out together."

"Mmhm. Yeah. Good night, Morgan. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow. Bye."

* * *

 **Original upload date: April 20, 2016**

 **A/N: I didn't even intend on writing this chapter at first. I was going to go straight to Oct. 9 from Oct. 7, but then I realized I need to make sure Lydia had an opportunity to get Victor some new clothes and only had one other day to do it with. Then I started thinking about some other things I haven't addressed in a while and that's where this chapter came from. Fun stuff.**


	39. Chapter 36

**October 9, 2016 - Friday, Early Morning - Rainy**

"So, uh, Morgan... Lydia told us you were interested in becoming a part of our group." Nathan said, looking at his watch and noting that he was at school about half an hour before he'd usually get there. Morgan was leaning on a chair in the library, taking in the fact that Lydia's group had so many Fulton students in it.

"What we do is very dangerous, I'm sure you've been told already. When we have to do what we have to do, there is a chance that we might not come back in one piece." Allie said, adjusting her glasses.

"For the record, you don't have to go out on the front lines in order to be part of our number. My sister joined us without having to put herself in any danger. Now she's keeping an eye out for us and helping us organize things." Damien said, crossing his arms.

"Cool! So she's like your mission control?" Morgan asked. Damien shook his head and said,

"No. She's more like a... scout - listen. We talked it over between us, and we think we can handle adding another person if you want to go through the gauntlet. But based on... previous information, we'd have to ask you some really personal questions if we want to get through it without our enemies catching up to us. Are you okay with that?" Morgan smiled and nodded.

"Sure! I mean, I kinda expected some kind of thorough background check. I haven't really done anything illegal... well, besides like, speeding and running a red light or two. And probably jaywalking." Allie looked between Lydia and Morgan; their leader was calmly sitting across from the chair Morgan was leaning on. She decided to say something in response to Morgan.

"You know that thing I was busy with tomorrow morning? Well, we were going to go train for our next mission. That'll be the only time we'll all be free to help you for the next two weeks, at least."

"Oh! Well, perfect. I had told her that I was able to hang out over the weekend. Guess I'll be able to do both! So... which one of you is going to do the interrogation?" The levity with which she treated the whole situation was off-putting to QIB, who all felt that as willing as she was to get involved, she had no idea what she was really asking to be a part of. Damien could at least sympathize with her, having essentially done the same thing back when it was less complicated. But she almost treated it like it was a game - he at least knew how serious it was before jumping in.

"We decided that it would be between Allie and myself, with Lydia watching and offering any words of her own. We really do need all the help we can get, but if it's going to be too much for you to handle... then we won't put you through it." Jacob said. Morgan acknowledged his words with a nod.

"Okay. So are we doing this right now, or...? Will we have enough time to finish before school starts?" She asked.

"We shouldn't rush it. Damien, your parents leave pretty early in the morning to do their thing on Saturdays - we'll just show up right after they leave." Lydia said. Nathan thought over the plan that was forming and decided to ask a question.

"Hey, uh... if Allie, Jacob, and you are doing the interview at Damien's place, what am I gonna do? Hang out with Damien and Lin until y'all are done?" Lydia turned back to face him and shrugged.

"If that's okay with you. I mean, I don't know how long it's going to take, but I doubt it'll be half the morning or anything like that."

"Then do we really have to show up that early in the morning? Damien's folks leave before 8:00 - we don't even show up at his house until like 10:00, at least, and we're always done before they get back from eating lunch. Make it 9:30." Lydia looked at the rest of the group.

"Is that okay with everyone? I personally think 9:15 is better - we can all eat breakfast at Damien's together and then do what we have to do."

"We're not cooking anything. I'm getting you all donuts if that's what we're doing." Damien said, putting his hands behind his head.

"That sounds good. Will a dozen be enough for everyone? There are six of us here, so that would be two for everyone." Allie said.

"I'm gonna need more than two. With coffee. I love the coffee from Shirley's." Nathan looked over at her hair bun, which was rounded enough to remind him of a donut.

"We have coffee, cream, half-and-half, and two percent milk at my place. Listen, we're getting off topic here - we have the group text to figure out what everyone's gonna want to eat. Morgan, we'll add you to that tomorrow if you decide you want to join us or not. Know what you're going to want to eat? Please say donuts, I don't want to have to go around town stopping by a ton of different places." Morgan giggled and said,

"It's okay. I only ever eat one kind of donut from Shirley's: the classic glazed donut. Three of them, with milk! And you just so happen to have the kind of milk I like."

"Alright, cool. Jacob, is that okay with you? Show up at my place at 9:15?"

"Uh huh. I'll think about what kind of donuts I want and text you later." Everyone who was sitting down got up from their seats and gathered their things.

"Alright! I guess we've made our plans, then. I should get back to my table before someone comes by and chews me out for not being there." Morgan said, standing up and picking up her messenger bag. As the group made to leave the library, Lydia said to her:

"Okay. We'll see you tomorrow. Remember that we're not going to push this on you. We won't hold anything against you if you choose not to join us after all. Just remember that mum's the word about it, okay?" Morgan turned to her and winked.

"You got it. Not a single soul shall know."

 **Friday, After School - Cloudy**

Lydia stepped into the Velvet Room at her house and found Victor in his usual spot. She gave him the red shirt and the khaki shorts, along with the black sneakers. He took the ensemble and laid out each piece before him on the table.

"Very casual. This is what people wear to these kinds of events, then."

"Yeah, if you're just a spectator."

"So, this football... I am aware it's a recreational sport, and have familiarized myself with the rules pertinent to that of American high schools. You will have to fill me in on the specifics of this particular matchup, however."

"Some team from Houston's coming down to play us. Their team name is the Panthers, and our team's name is the Falcons." Victor moved to close the curtain to change into the clothes Lydia had given him. She stepped outside the curtain as he responded.

"I see. Will there be mascots at this game? If so, I'm very much excited to see them! Anthropomorphic animals are simply fascinating to me." Lydia wondered if he actually thought the mascots were real human-shaped animals and not just people in costumes. The Falcons mascot was some tall, lean guy who always looked sweaty whenever he took the head off.

"For our team, at least. I don't know if the Panthers will have theirs with them."

"Superb. I'll make sure to keep my eyes revealed."

"It's peeled. The expression is 'keep my eyes _peeled.'_ "

"Peeled? How strange. People from your world are not actually capable of peeling their eyes without significant pain, right? I thought peeling was a process used to remove the skins of fruits and vegetables, or to describe the decay of the surface of something." Lydia shrugged.

"It's an idiom. It's not meant to be taken literally. I think it's 'peeled' because our eyelids are retractable, and that's a similar motion to how you peel something."

"Idiomatic language. I see. That's an aspect of your world I will only be able to understand via immersion." He pulled back the curtain to show Lydia how he looked in the outfit. Somehow he looked younger wearing casual clothing than he did wearing the Velvet Room uniform, as if he now looked like a college student rather than an adult who worked at a high-class hotel. A white-haired, golden-eyed college student, but right now Victor looked about as normal as he was going to get without hair dye and colored contacts.

"Well? Is this acceptable?" He asked.

"You look great." She looked over to Igor to gauge his reaction. He had turned his head slightly to see them, but the grin on his face did not change a bit and he remained silent as she walked back towards the exit.

"Hold on. I need to go to the location of the other Velvet Room door in my world. Once I get there, I'll come back for you."

"Very well, then. I look forward to your return." He said, bowing out of habit. She went back into her room and looked at the group text on her phone, seeing that everyone had managed to figure out the donut arrangement for tomorrow. Throughout the day, they had thrown around questions that Allie and Jacob were going to ask Morgan; they would focus on trying to identify what about herself she wishes she could improve on and what kind of person she wishes she could become.

 _Her Arcana is the Aeon, huh? I looked that up earlier today. It's got a lot in common with Judgment: it has to do with achieving understanding of one's inner strengths, of taking that knowledge and turning it into something that changes the world. But Judgment was more impersonal, like it was according to the standards of some external higher power rather than one's own self. Aeon's also from the same deck as the Hunger Arcana. Lynne is like a frenemy to me - a Social Link with someone that respects you, yet whose other self wants to kill you. What does that make Morgan, then? I can believe that she wants to join us to gain some kind of understanding, but what does she want to do with it? I guess there's no point in thinking about that now. I'll get my chance to ask her myself tomorrow._

 **Friday, Evening - Cloudy**

"So, this is where the other door is. I think it's very appropriate, given that you use mirrors to summon your Personas." Victor said as he looked around the dancers' practice room and saw himself in its multiple full-length mirrors. Lydia did not look at him and immediately made for the door, trying not to think about what she would have to say if anyone saw him before he left the building.

"Come on. The game's already started." She said, leading him out of the building and up to the ticket stand. The man behind the counter looked at Victor as he gave him the money for the ticket and said,

"Well, don't think I've ever seen you before. You're a friend of hers?"

"Yes, sir." The man handed him a ticket.

"Oh, alright. You go here?" Lydia looked over at Victor, hoping she wouldn't have to bail him out. Victor kept his eyes on the cashier and said,

"No, sir. I'm from out of town. I am no longer required to attend school."

"Huh, alright. Well, make sure you keep that ticket with you. You'll need it if you want to leave and come back." Victor nodded and thanked the man, and Lydia let out a small breath of relief as the two of them entered the stands.

"I was afraid he was going to ask you where you were from. Good thing there was still a line." Lydia said. Victor smiled.

"These visits have happened enough times for my siblings that my master has deemed it proper to train me in fashioning a believable alias for when I am in your world. While not exhaustive, I have an answer to many common questions that would be asked of a stranger like myself. So, it appears that the game is already underway. Which team is the Falcons?" He asked. Lydia pointed at the football players wearing red and blue jerseys.

"Ah! I see. Well, it doesn't appear there's designated seating here. Feel free to lead me to wherever works for you." There was a spot open near Damien and Nathan, who were sitting towards the top of the stands. Allie and Jacob had decided to stay home, not really that interested in the football game. She hadn't told them she was going to bring Victor, and the guys would certainly ask him a hundred questions as soon as they learned who he was. She wondered how that would turn out.

"A couple of my friends are up there. Let's go sit by them. They're also Persona-users, so you don't have to hide your identity from them." She led him up to where they were, and they both turned to see Lydia walking towards them with the white-haired young man in tow. Damien was the first to say something.

"Whoa, who's this? Nice hair, dude. You remind me of that guy from the _Devil of Sorrow_ series, except your hair's shorter. And your eyes are... gold? I guess everyone's gearing up for Halloween, aren't they?"

"I am not participating in Halloween. I think I should introduce myself to you before we go any further. Hello, my name is Victor - and I serve Lydia as the current attendant of the Velvet Room." Damien looked back at Nathan and then back to Victor as he sat down next to him and offered his hand.

"Whoa. I did _not_ expect _this._ Nice to meet you, Victor. Lydia, you didn't tell us you were bringing _him!"_

"Yeah, I know. It's only for the game. I figured he wouldn't attract too much attention here and the game seemed like the best place to go." Nathan looked over at Victor, who was politely smiling at him.

"Has Lydia taught you about football? I mean, do you know what's going on right now?" Victor looked at the field, where a play was about to begin.

"Hmm. The Falcons have put together a running offense that has left only one wide receiver available. The Panthers are going to collapse on the quarterback very swiftly and their formation has that lone receiver covered." A few of the players on the field shifted before the snap, and the quarterback handed the ball to the halfback, who saw an opening and ran with the ball towards it. One of the Panthers noticed the gap he was trying to get through and tackled him as he crossed the line of scrimmage.

"A gain of one yard. Now they'll likely punt the ball. " Victor said. Immediately after he said that, the announcer repeated the yardage gained, the scoreboard updating to reflect that it was now the fourth down with three yards to go for the Falcons, who were at their 37-yard line.

"Huh. Have you played the game before?" Nathan asked.

"No. I studied the various aspects of American football once I knew that I would be going to a game." The next play commenced and the Falcons punted the ball, putting the Panthers on offense.

For the rest of the first quarter, Lydia watched as Victor spoke with Damien and Nathan about the game - apparently whatever material Victor had studied didn't cover the actual professional teams, limiting their conversations to be about what was directly in front of them. Not being that much into the technicalities of the game, Lydia sat silently as the two of them occupied Victor's attention. At the end of the first quarter, Victor looked over to her and said:

"Is everything alright?"

"It's fine. Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Very much so. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay with how things have turned out so far. I was not given any specific directions on how to make the most of my visits here - I noticed you haven't said anything to me since we sat down. I apologize if I have done anything to offend you, or make you feel that you are being excluded." She hadn't thought about what exactly the visit would be like, either. To her, the games were entertaining enough to go to even if she didn't already have to, but something did feel off about her friends having had more meaningful interaction with him in the last half hour or so than her.

"It's okay. I didn't really have an itinerary or anything. Still, I'm used to getting up and moving around during the game."

"I see. Then let's do that for the next quarter, shall we?" Victor stood up and offered his hand to Lydia. She took it and stood up. Damien saw this and said to Victor:

"You know, if I didn't know you were from the Velvet Room, I'd think you were some blue blood. You sound and act like one."

"Blue blood? I've never seen my own blood before, but considering I have a human body I'd assume it would be red, wouldn't it? Does having blue blood change one's demeanor?" Damien broke out into laughter, with Nathan catching the fit soon after.

"No, man! It's an expression. Being a 'blue blood' means you're someone from a rich family with real refined taste. They usually raise their kids to be exceedingly polite and stuff, but it often turns into them being snobby and overly concerned with outdated traditions. Not that I'm saying you're like that, I'm just telling you about a stereotype." Victor closed his eyes and nodded before looking over at the field where the cheerleaders were starting up another round of chants and the Falcons mascot started waving his arms around behind them.

"I see. Another instance of idiomatic language. I suppose next time I hear something like that, I'll simply ask what it means. I will see you two later. Let's go, Lydia. The mascot's performing." Lydia turned around and left the stands with Victor, who went up towards the front guardrail to look more closely at the mascot. He placed his left hand on his chin as if he was thinking about something, while intently watching the mascot's movements. Lydia noticed this and said,

"What is it about the mascot that you find fascinating? Is it just because it's someone in an animal costume jumping around and waving?"

"Partially, yes. Another reason is that there's something... humorous, about their mere existence. Oh!" He said as the mascot took notice of him and walked over to him, raising his wing-hands in a "What's up?" expression.

"H-Hello. How are you?" He asked the mascot, who started pumping his wings in the air like they were fists.

"Um... is that good?" He asked, looking towards Lydia, who was smiling.

"I think so." She said. Victor looked back at the mascot, who quickly moved his head to face him, then Lydia, then him, then Lydia again, and then brought his wings to his chest and leaned back, as if he was laughing.

"I'm sorry? I understand you find something about us funny, but your lack of vocalized language and unchanging facial expression is making it difficult to discern exactly what." The mascot swept a wing at him as if to brush off his concern. He turned to Lydia and started dancing in front of her, swinging his wings back and forth as he slowly did a full turn. She chuckled and gestured to the other side of the stands.

"Go. Don't let us have _all_ the attention." The mascot bowed to her before walking away, raising a wing to get the attention of the crowd.

"I'm aware there's a person inside, and yet... it's as if I was interacting with a very intelligent animal instead. Which, since humans are also considered animals, I suppose is also correct. That said, something about that anthropomorphic falcon was _aggravating_ to me." Victor crossed his arms as the football players took the field to begin the second quarter.

"Yeah, some people just really hate mascots. I think it's because you can't see a face - all you see is that big smiling head."

"Hmm. Yes, perhaps. Well, then. Would you like to continue watching the game from here?"

"Let's walk around. We don't need to be watching every single play."

Victor spent the rest of the game hanging around Lydia, making comments about each play that he could see. Towards the end of the third quarter, she took him to the fence bordering the forest near the school and reminded him about how on a night like this, Nathan had been pulled into the valley and she had to save him wearing the dancer's outfit and its makeup, and how she was glad she didn't have to do it again tonight.

"Yes, I remember that. I think you've done very well so far in combating this threat." He let out a sigh that he wasn't aware he was holding.

"The last few incidents have been up to luck - either we realize what's happening in time and save the person, or we don't and they give in to their Idol. And now that the valley's pulling in two people at a time, it's forcing me to have to leave someone behind. It's so stupid. I mean, everything's been getting more and more complicated and I just know it's going to get worse. What are we going to do if someone gets taken and we don't even know about it? I don't know how we're supposed to _win_ against whatever or whoever is behind this." Victor closed his eyes, and began to hum a tune that sounded like it was from an old western. After a few measures, he stopped and cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from. Lydia, if you would allow me to be completely honest with you..." He trailed off, expecting a response.

"I don't know about _completely_ honest, Victor. You said you could sense the future - if things go horribly wrong for us, I don't want to know about it. I don't want you to lie to me, either, though. So... I guess just tell me whatever you're going to tell me, but leave out the details."

"I am no stranger to suffering. I know it when I see it. Out of all the people in this stadium right now, you are among those with the highest levels of it in their near future. However, if there's one thing you have taught me based on your deeds in the other world, it is that you are capable of converting suffering into solace, into peace, and even into joy. Whether or not you are ultimately able to succeed in your trial is going to depend on whether or not you are able to do this not just for others, but for yourself as well. I would very much rather you not fail, alright? I can't stand the idea of seeing someone waste their potential." He stared into the forest, glaring at nothing in particular. He sighed, shaking his head.

"If Master Igor was here, he would reprimand me on the spot for saying such things to you. I'm supposed to maintain a level of distance from you, yet here I am putting more pressure on you. I'm sincerely sorry for that." He rubbed his face with his hands and then grabbed the fence, looking down at the ground.

"You too, huh? My friends, my family, and now you - all of you are trying to help me even if you don't really know how. I don't really know what you mean about knowing suffering, though. What happened to you that you can say that?"

"I once told you that we have something in common - that we both seek answers to the things that were thrust upon us. Do you remember that?"

"Uh huh."

"You may have wondered how I came to work for Master Igor in the Velvet Room, as the rest of my family has. As far as I know, I was not always bound to his service. At some point in the past, I was not only free, but I have a feeling I was someone else entirely. Something happened to me that brought me before Master Igor, who gave me the identity of Victor and trained me in the ways of the Velvet Room. I know I am accustomed to suffering, but I cannot explain why. The only thing I can think of is that whoever I was before coming to the Velvet Room must have had to deal with it frequently. While I am in the Room, I cannot do much in the way of self-discovery. That is why I was looking forward to our outing. When I'm out here, I can actually seek those answers to the questions I have about myself instead of merely ruminating over them in my mind." He let go of the fence and stood up straight, turning around and looking back at the field. The third quarter had just ended and the players left the field, allowing the cheerleaders to do a choreography routine. Lydia leaned back onto the fence and crossed her arms.

"So leaving the Velvet Room to hang around with me is basically me returning the favor for all the enchantments and stuff. The more time you spend in this world, the closer you get to figuring out who you used to be, is that it?"

"Yes. You seem... uneasy." She looked up at him and said,

"I just want to know how many more people I'm going to be expected to do this with. I don't have enough of me to listen to _everyone's_ problems, to be whatever it is they need in order to feel better or to fix their issues. How much does Philemon expect me to be able to do? What kind of threat is out there that I need to be the support of so many people in order to be able to face it? You probably can't answer either of those things because you don't _know,_ I bet." He shook his head.

"I'm sorry." Lydia bounced herself off of the fence.

"Yeah, I know. I shouldn't be mean to you, either. I just can't stop worrying about things, and even though I know I have other people that probably worry about the same things I do, it still doesn't make those things go away. I wonder if Lynne was right about avoiding talking about the supernatural aspects of our lives here - she doesn't like thinking about this stuff, either, and she's supposed to be my enemy."

"It would probably be easier for you if she was more clearly your adversary, would it not? That's one less person you'd have to worry about?"

"Yeah. Listen, just forget about all this. I don't want to talk about it anymore. Let's just go back to the stands and enjoy the rest of the game." The sound of shattered glass was ceasing to be a surprise now for her, as was the momentary freezing of time that accompanied it. Before her appeared a new tarot card, one with a lightning bolt striking a tower and destroying its top, sending two individuals plummeting from it. The bottom of the card held the Roman numeral for sixteen, and Lydia already knew the words before she heard them:

 ** **Thou art I... and I am thou...****

 ** **Thou hast established a new bond...****

 ** **In thee, the Beholder's sight grows ever clearer...****

 ** **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Tower Arcana...****

 _As if the image itself wasn't already enough explanation, the Tower's meant to symbolize disaster, brought on by man's pride inviting judgment from the heavens, or just as a warning that bad things are going to happen soon. Maybe that's why Victor ended up in the Velvet Room, to atone for something he did in his previous life - or maybe it has to do with him warning me that things are going to get worse before they get better._

As time resumed, Victor blinked before turning to Lydia and saying,

"I was told that this would likely happen. That was the Tower Arcana you saw just now, wasn't it?"

"You saw that? The card appearing in front of me and then fading out? Did you hear the voice and the glass shattering, too?"

"I did not hear a voice, but I sensed the rest. I assume I am the only person you have formed a Social Link with to notice this phenomenon, then?"

"If anyone else has, they certainly haven't told me about it. It must be because you're already really close to the Arcana."

"Mm. Well, that will give me something new to ponder. But as you've said, there will be no more discussion of these matters while I am still on this side. Come on! Let's go cheer on the Falcons."

With only a couple of minutes to go in the game, the Falcons were up a touchdown and were on the offensive. Lydia and Victor were standing by the railing where they had interacted with the mascot. She looked at the clock and said,

"You should be getting ready to go soon. You need to get back to the Velvet Room before anyone sees you disappearing into thin air."

"I suppose that would be disturbing to those unaware of my status. While it looks like the Falcons have secured victory, I have to admit I'm disappointed that I won't be able to see the final moments of the game."

"I'll tell you about it later. I'd escort you back to the door myself, but I need to be on the field to line up in formation with the rest of the squad." Victor nodded.

"I understand. Well, then. It was a pleasure to have spent this time with you in your world. I'll be waiting for you to tell me how the game ended."

"Alright. See you later."

"Until then." Victor said, walking away from the stands and leaving the field. Lydia looked the other way and saw the quarterback throw a pass downfield several yards, which was caught by the receiver. He managed to cross midfield before being tackled.

"So, guess he had to go back to the Velvet Room." Damien said from beside her. He and Nathan had come down from the stands, along with a couple of people who were already beginning to leave after seeing that the game was pretty much decided.

"Any idea if he's going to come back, or was this a one-time thing?" Nathan asked.

"He wants to come back, but I don't know if he's just going to be able to freely come and go. He had to be cleared by Igor to come here, so I don't know if he's going to have to wait a while before he can come again or if he's going to be able to show up here whenever as long as I'm the one who brings him. I'll find out later once I tell him how the game ended." The next play resulted in a first down for the Falcons, and the clock continued to tick towards zero as the players rearranged themselves for the next play.

"Looks like a pretty convincing win to me." Nathan said. The team sure had gotten better once he had left them, he thought - the guy that they had originally put in as a substitute when he was taken was now doing some serious work as a member of the offensive line. While even an average player would've been leaps and bounds better than him, that guy was starting to look like he'd be a pretty solid player for the next year or so.

"Well, good thing we have the most convenient bye ever next Friday. We all should be able to get going pretty much as soon as school lets out, and I think between the drive over and settling down in the hotel, we should be able to get a bite to eat and then be able to spend all of Friday night at the convention center. Seriously, you two, it's going to be awesome. There's going to be a cosplay contest, an arcade, tons of merchandise, a rave on Saturday night... I'm already wishing for the 16th to come quicker."

"It sounds great. But we have things we have to get out of the way first before we can enjoy that." Lydia said. Soon they'd have to go back to doing QIB-related things, and the next Idol event was certain to take place sometime next week, if Morgan didn't trigger it herself tomorrow. Damien sighed, putting his hands behind his head and looking towards the moon that was partially obscured by the clouds.

"Yeah, I know. Hey, though. Based on what we know, the next you-know-what isn't supposed to happen as soon as tomorrow. I was talking with Allie earlier about it, and when it happened to me, it was pretty much a week after it happened to her, like it was on schedule. Yeah, I instigated it, but I think it just so happened to line up with the valley's timer for pulling people in. Morgan wants to do it at least several days out of sync, though." Lydia crossed her arms, glancing at the game clock.

"So... what are you saying? Her Idol won't show up for her even if she practically invites it to because it's not time yet?"

"Maybe. But think about this: you don't have to be 'invited' in order to go inside. As long as you're touching someone who goes in, you go in with them, remember? What happens if Morgan doesn't get hypnotized in, but instead comes in with one of us? Will her Idol still show up, or not? Is the valley capable of spawning Idols spontaneously, or is it really on a schedule?" Lydia closed her eyes and thought about it.

 _If that was the case, surely Sycophanta would've figured it out before us and tried to recruit more people to their side. If they could just bring people in whenever they want, they'd outnumber us by now. What did Lynne say to me? Something about not handing out invitations?_

"No. Something Lynne told me last week makes me think it's the schedule thing. She told me they don't hand out invitations - you'd think that since they seem to know more about the valley than us, they'd have probably recruited more people by now if the valley could just spawn Idols whenever someone shows up there. So I think that even if we bring Morgan inside, nothing is going to happen. The only way she actually joins us as a Persona-user is if she's one of the ones that gets pulled in next week."

"Well, darn. You think we should tell her? She'll be disappointed for sure." Nathan asked.

"Yes, we're going to tell her. That doesn't mean we're still not going to do the interview tomorrow. I have a feeling she might be facing her Idol soon, and the more we know about her, the better we'll be able to react." Damien made a tsking sound and closed his eyes.

"If that's the case, then whoever _else_ gets pulled in is shit outta luck. We'd have such an advantage with Morgan that there'd be no way going for her wouldn't be the better option." No one spoke for a moment after that. Lydia's thoughts about that were quickly broken by a familiar redhead in the uniform of the dance team's leader coming over to her and opening her mouth.

"Hey, do you know where Rachel is? The game's almost over and I don't see her around here."

"Uh, no. I haven't seen her, I've been watching the game. Have you looked everywhere already?" Carla looked around the stands before snapping her fingers.

"Go look behind the stands. I'll bet you she's back there making out with her boyfriend." Lydia rolled her eyes.

"Okay, fine. Nathan, Damien, I'll talk to you guys later?"

"Sure. We'll see you tomorrow."

"Uh huh. See you later."

A quick look behind the stands revealed that the girl in question wasn't exactly _making out_ with her boyfriend as she was cuddling with him underneath the stands. The two of them shared a kiss before Rachel left with Lydia and the two of them returned to the squad. The game ended with a Falcons victory, the final score being 28-21.

When Lydia returned home, she returned to the Velvet Room and told Victor how the game ended. He had gone back to wearing his typical uniform, and informed Lydia that it would be some time before he would be allowed back out again. She was in bed with the lights out when she looked over at Junebug sitting next to her, whose weathered smiling face gave her a sense of comfort.

 _You've been through a lot of wear over the years, haven't you? But you've never stopped smiling in all that time. Even if you've gotten less soft and your colors have faded, you still have the power to make me feel better. I can just imagine what you'd say to me now:_

 _"Don't worry, everything will be alright!"_

 _I could tell you anything that was on my mind back then, and I can still do it now. You're not complicated, you won't worry about me or show me anything less than complete faith that I'll be able to work things out. If only I could say the same about my parents..._

She fell asleep holding the pillow close to her once again.

* * *

 **Original upload date: April 27, 2016**

 **A/N: A weekly update? Oh, my! Lol. I make no promises about getting the next update out in a similar fashion, but who knows... I've actually started to get back into the rhythm of writing since I started posting again, so we'll see.**


	40. Chapter 37

**October 10, 2015 - Saturday, Morning - Partly Cloudy**

There were eight glazed donuts, two jelly donuts, two donuts covered in sprinkles, a chocolate donut, a sugar donut, and two iced donuts all sitting in a row. If they were capable of thought, it is possible they would've been wondering which mouth would've been devouring each of them right about now, and how long it would've taken for them to be consumed. Alas, they were but donuts, and so had no way of pondering such things.

All sixteen donuts were greedily torn apart, chewed to bits, and swallowed by six hungry teenagers and one young adult, who then proceeded to get down to business. Morgan bopped up and down a little as she looked around excitedly.

"So, I guess it's time to do this thing, huh?" Even though Lin had been told that it was unlikely something was actually going to happen to her, she couldn't help but worry that this girl was going to get either herself or the rest of the group in trouble.

"You'll be using my room. I have a small table there that you all can sit around. Lydia, I placed the table so that you'll be able to sit on my bed." Allie, Jacob, Lydia, and Morgan all stood up and followed her to her room. Once they had gotten to the doorway, Lin said,

"I covered up all the mirrors and reflective surfaces in here, just in case. Don't go peeking underneath anything, Morgan."

"Alright, alright." She said, taking in the atmosphere. Lin's room was definitely something that she would consider fitting of the word "otaku", with an entire bookcase full of manga volumes sitting next to her bed. The walls were covered in posters representing various video game franchises, many of which were Japanese in origin. A towel was covering what was very obviously a mirror, and the windows had the blinds over them. Even Lin's desktop monitor had been covered by several stacks of boxed figurines - there was no TV to be found in her room, as it turned out.

The table she had mentioned was a collapsible one set out next to the bed, with folding chairs on the sides. It was pretty clear that Morgan was meant to sit facing inwards, as there was only one chair on that side.

"Wow, this collection is something else." Jacob said, glancing from object to object.

"It's definitely impressive." Allie remarked. The two of them sat down on their side of the table at the same time Morgan sat down on hers. Lydia went around them and sat down on Lin's bed. Once she had seen that everyone was settled, Lin said:

"I'm probably going to end up like Damien, having so much stuff in my room that it won't even be able to fit a table like this anymore. Thing is, his room is so much more disorganized than mine - he could free up a ton of space if he bothered to rearrange his stuff properly. Anyways... you let us know when you're done. We'll be watching TV downstairs. Morgan?"

"Yeah?" She turned around to acknowledge her.

"Remember you don't have to commit to anything. If you want to walk away, no one is going to judge you for it."

"I know. Thanks for the concern." Lin closed the door and left the group inside her room to themselves. Jacob cleared his throat and began speaking.

"Well, um... like Lin said, we're not going to judge you if you decide you don't want to do this anymore. If at any point you think we're asking too much, just say so and we'll stop. We might be talking to you about personal stuff, but that doesn't mean we want to make you feel pressured to give us an answer."

"Alright. I hear you." Morgan said. Allie pushed her glasses up to her face and retrieved her phone from her pocket, putting it on the table face-down.

"So, allow us to begin by telling you exactly what our group is and what we do. You're familiar with the string of disappearances that have happened around here a few months ago, right?"

"Uh huh. People vanish for no reason and then end up stumbling out of the woods with Narcissus Syndrome. Yeah, two people that had it go to our school. Apparently they got better because they're younger, or at least that's what the doctors said."

"There _is_ a reason. They were taken away by something that we call an Idol: basically what you consider to be your perfect self, the version of you that think you want to be the most. They show up in mirrors and other surfaces that you can see your reflection in. They take people into a different world by hypnotizing them and teleporting them inside, where they're taken through a physical manifestation of what they want to be on the inside, guided by their Idol. If they accept their Idol, they leave that other world and end up in the woods behind our school." Allie paused, gauging Morgan's reaction. She seemed to be following everything so far.

"So... that's where the Narcissus Syndrome comes from. Okay, keep going."

"You also probably noticed that the disappearances have stopped ever since school started. That's because... that's because I was taken to that other world the first week of school. I was trying to figure out what was causing people to just vanish, and people were calling it Narcissus Syndrome because it caused the people afflicted with it to incessantly stare at their own reflections to the point of blocking out everything else around them, just like the legend of Narcissus who drowned after falling in a lake that showed him his reflection. I thought that if you stared into a mirror long enough, you'd come down with it somehow, and I got Lydia to help me record an attempt at that.

But my reflection turned into my Idol, and the next thing I remember, I was standing in a rave warehouse being taunted by a prettier, older version of myself. What I didn't know was that Lydia had grabbed me when I was taken, which means she was pulled inside with me. She unlocked a special power within herself and saved me from my Idol with it, granting me the same power she had. That's more or less when our group - the Quartz Idol Busters - was born. The other world, an endless valley with nothing but grass and quartz, didn't stop with me. Except for Lin and Lydia, everyone in this house went through the same experience I just described, and those with that special power banded together to save them." Morgan had stopped fidgeting and was now sitting perfectly still, enraptured by Allie's words. Jacob decided to jump in and speak next.

"Yeah. That special power is the power of Persona. We learned to accept that our Idols were unhealthy images of ourselves, and in return they transformed into our Personas, our other selves, that take the form of mythological figures - well, no, only kind of... they don't really look that much like the ones from mythology, but they still have some things in common with them. The mirrors that drew us all in are now ours to control, basically - each of us has a mirror that we use to summon our Persona. I know it's a lot to have to process, so if we need to repeat anything-"

"No, no! I understand. Seriously, you don't even know. It's like... wow, okay. So... what's with the questions you haven't asked me yet, again?" Lydia decided to say something now.

"We have to work through a dungeon in order to save someone that's facing their Idol. The more we know about them, the easier it is since we can predict things about the dungeon. And before we actually get to the 'asking you questions' part, there's something you have to know: you probably won't be able to face your Idol today."

"What? Why?"

"The valley is on some kind of schedule. It only takes people when it's ready. It used to be once a week, but now that it's taking two people at a time, it's slowed down to once every two weeks. We just added Jacob to our number last week, so that means even if we escorted you there ourselves, it's unlikely anything would happen to you. But the thing is, that doesn't mean something couldn't happen to you next week, which is when we expect the next Idol event to take place. That's why we're still doing this - if you get pulled in, we'll know enough about you to save you as quick as we can, before our enemies catch up to us."

"Huh. Okay... but if I agree to answer your questions, you have to let me join. Even if I can't actually help you fight, I still want to be a part of this."

"Alright. That's fine." Lydia said. Allie nodded, and flipped her phone face up. She glanced at a list of questions and then flipped it face down again.

"So, Morgan... now that you know what an Idol is, we're going to try to figure out what yours would be like. What do you think has been bothering you the most recently?" Morgan closed her eyes and thought for a moment.

"Um... hmm." She opened her eyes and gave her answer.

"I guess it's this feeling that I'm not doing enough. Like, I'm putting together my costume for the Halloween party, and I already have an idea of what I'm going to wear to the homecoming dance, and school's not really that hard for me... there are some people at school that really annoy me sometimes, but they're not actually bothering _me_ specifically - they're just kinda dumb, I guess. I'm a senior, so there's that whole college thing I've got to prepare for, but I already know where I want to go. I've got my stuff together, but... there's so much I want to be able to do that I can't yet because I haven't graduated."

"What do you want to do once you graduate? What's your biggest dream?" Jacob asked. Morgan put her hands together and looked down at the table, letting out a tiny sigh.

"Well, I used to think I didn't know, that I had no idea. There's a lot of things I _could_ do, but nothing really stood out to me... at least until I got an idea recently from all the rhythm games and RPGs I played when I was younger. I could talk about it for hours, but it's basically a hybrid between the two. I'd really like to make that a real game someday, and I guess that would mean going for computer science once I go off to college. Like, I want it to be the next big thing, the next huge franchise that everyone loves. But I don't know how to make games, and ideas don't really mean a whole lot if you don't have a way to put them into practice."

"So you want to be a game designer?" Allie asked.

"Yeah, I guess so. I want to be the one driving that kind of project, but it's such a big thing that there's no way I could do it without the resources of a big company, and it'd probably take like, a decade for me to move up the ladder to the point where I could decide what's getting made." Jacob grabbed Allie's phone and looked at the list of the questions, putting it back on the table face down.

"I see. We'll remember that. Let's talk about you as a person. What do you think the best version of yourself would be like?" Morgan separated her hands and sat up straight, crossing her arms. She looked around at all the various things in Lin's room, and then back to Allie and Jacob.

"Well... I guess you could say I already said half of it. I mean, I've always thought growing up meant getting better, and I might be over eighteen already, but there's still a vast ocean of things I've yet to understand. I'm just one person. I always will be _just_ one person. Like, when I think of what I want most, what comes to mind is understanding. Of people, I mean. Understanding of people. There's probably a lot of other things I think a perfect me would be like, but I think the best version of me is someone who understands everyone." Jacob looked at Allie, who was intently listening to Morgan. He didn't know about _everyone,_ he'd never thought of it that way, but he could definitely get what she was saying about wanting to understand others.

"Do you want to become close with a lot of people?" He asked Morgan. She shrugged.

"I don't know about a _lot._ That'd be nice, I guess, but it's like... I just want to _know_ other people. I'm honestly good with being close just to a few people. I just think there are so many unique experiences out there, that if I could have them somehow it'd be the most amazing thing ever." After hearing that, Lydia felt that she was starting to get a picture of what the valley might create around Morgan if she was taken by it.

 _So... she wants to have the experiences of a bunch of other people? It sounds like she wants to live a ton of different lives, which is beyond huge. She also wants to make this game of hers, which is still big, but at least kind of realistic in comparison. She's a big dreamer, like Jacob. And all her talk about understanding... I wonder if she wouldn't end up with an analyzing Persona, like how Jacob got Icarus. And an Idol based off of that would probably **think** it had that understanding and try to use that to sway her._

"I can see why you practically jumped at the idea of joining us. Doing all this has definitely been some kind of an experience." Allie said, leaning back in her chair.

"Do you think you could tell us more about that game of yours? You said you didn't really have an idea of what you wanted to do once you graduated until you came up with it. If it's a really big thing to you, it might help us to know more about it." Jacob said.

"Yeah, I know you said you could go on for hours, but just tell us the basics if it's that complex." Allie added. Morgan took in a deep breath, her eyes widening as if she was about to jump off of a high diving board. She looked between the three QIB members and said,

"Well, okay... see, it's based on the idea that music can be used as an energy source, and..." The three of them then listened to her speak nonstop about the idea, which despite her copious use of hand gestures, her explanations of numerous terms and things that had nothing to do with her game's vaguely-defined plot, was at least entertaining enough to not make them want to yawn during her lecture about it. At some point, she glanced at a digital clock in Lin's room and realized that fifteen minutes had passed since she started talking.

"...and I probably told you way more than you needed to know. Sorry, it's just... I don't really have anybody to talk about it to, so any chance I get I go totally overboard with." She said, putting her hands in her lap so as to keep them from flying about any further. Lydia chuckled at this and readjusted herself on Lin's bed.

"I think we've heard enough. What do you two think?"

"I think we know enough about her now. If something _does_ happen to her, we'll be there to support her really well." Jacob said.

"I don't think we have anything to worry about. She'll be a good addition to our group whether she can use a Persona or not." Allie said, taking her phone off of the table. Lydia looked over at Morgan and said,

"Yep. I guess that means you're officially a member of QIB now, Morgan." She responded by putting her hands together, smiling, and jittering about, saying,

"Awesome! So is there like some kind of badge or something? Y'know, something I can keep on me to prove I'm part of this?" Allie got from the table, which prompted everyone else to stand up.

"Funny you should say that. Damien and I had pins made not too long ago. I think he still has them in his room; I'll ask him to go get them and you can pick one you like." They all left Lin's room and went downstairs. After Damien came down with the pins, Morgan picked out the other purple one and pinned it to her shirt. She noticed that everyone except for Lin had their own personalized mirror with them, and was fascinated by their unique designs. Nathan then said,

"So, uh, what do we do now? We're supposed to do our training, but what about Morgan? Are we gonna test that theory about the valley, or is it too risky?" Lydia looked over at her, full of nervous energy that wouldn't let her stay still - she was swaying side to side while standing in one place.

"It's a question I think we need to answer sooner or later. Our theories about the valley are just that, theories. I'd rather we learn the truth sooner and on our own terms than later when something happens completely out of our control. We're all capable enough to handle it if her Idol actually shows up today."

"Speaking of 'we', 'we're' not all here at the moment. We've all been busy doing stuff that I don't think anyone's gone to tell our favorite not-ghost about what we're fixing to do. Did you even tell Morgan about her?" Damien asked. Lydia sighed, feeling ashamed that she hadn't mentioned F.Z. even once.

"I don't think any of us did. It's not just _my_ fault. Morgan, there's one other QIB member you haven't met yet, and it's because she's in a very unique situation. We don't know her full name yet because she lost her memory - we only know her initials, F.Z. Damien called her the 'not-ghost' because she refused to accept her Idol and was killed by it. That happened long before any of us even knew what was going on. She's confined to the valley, and she's actually the reason we're even able to leave it at all. She's... not really fond of the idea of people without Personas going there of their own free will. Actually, she's kind of tough to get along with for most people." Damien raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, you can say that again. She already didn't like it when I went in there, and based on what I know about her, she will _not_ be very nice to Morgan. No offense or anything, but you're so pumped to go through all this that it makes you seem like you're a dumb bubbleheaded girl who's just looking for a good time." Morgan shrugged, her smile not breaking in the slightest.

"It wouldn't be the first time someone's thought that of me. She's not going to try to assault me, is she?" Lydia gave a look to Damien before he could say anything.

"No. She'll behave. I've talked with her about this. She understands that people who join us like that are taking it seriously. Besides, if nothing happens when Morgan goes inside, we're sending her right back here."

"Sounds good. I'm hoping that'll be exactly what happens." Lin said from her position on the couch.

"Okay. Well, if you say F.Z. will behave, I'll take your word for it. Come on, people. Let's go do this." Damien said as he turned to go to the half bathroom that the group used to go in and out of the valley. Lydia moved to the front of everyone with Morgan in tow.

"Let me and her go first. You all will follow in right after us. Morgan, put your hand on my shoulder and don't look at the mirror." She did as she was told. Before she could think about what was going to happen, everything around her flashed white for a split second before she was looking at grass underneath her feet instead of the bathroom tile. She immediately looked up and all around her, and saw the valley with its endless grass and quartz, as well as several impressively large quartz structures.

"Tell me if you start to feel strange at all, okay?" Lydia said, leading her a few steps forward. Morgan nodded, taking in the familiar-yet-otherworldly designs of the dungeons that had housed the Idols of QIB. The air felt pleasantly warm - not too humid, not too hot. The sky had a few fluffy white clouds in it, and there was even a breeze blowing by her.

"Here she comes." Lydia said. Morgan was about to ask who Lydia was talking about when her question was answered in the form of a fourteen-year-old semi-transparent Hispanic girl wearing a flower-patterned blue-green dress suddenly materializing in front of her, grass blades flying about as she appeared.

"Guess you guys are here for training again, huh? Wait. Who the hell is this?" F.Z. said, pointing at Morgan. The other members of QIB began to come in behind them.

"Her name's Morgan. She's... the newest member of the team." F.Z. narrowed her eyes at Lydia for a second before letting out a breath and softening her facial expression from an annoyed glare to a more inquisitive look.

"Oh, really? Huh. You're _new?_ So you're like Damien's sister, except you actually dared to come in here. You _know_ you're putting yourself in danger just by being here, right?" Morgan nodded, looking to her sides as the others came up next to her.

"As long as I have them with me, I've got nothing to worry about. By the way, I don't really feel off or anything. How long would it take before I'd feel something?"

"What is she talking about?" F.Z. asked.

"We were wondering if someone without a Persona voluntarily entered the valley would encounter their Idol. Morgan's helping us test that out - and this is important because if her Idol _does_ come out, Sycophanta could very well figure that out and start recruiting people instead of waiting for this place to do it for them." Lydia responded. F.Z. spawned a lump of quartz in her hand and then tossed it up and down.

"Uh huh. Alright. So what are you guys gonna do? Wait around, see if anything happens, and if nothing goes down with her you go back to training? That's why all of you are here, right?" Damien decided to answer her question.

"Pretty much. Has anything happened in here since we've been gone?" F.Z. shook her head and kept tossing the lump of quartz up and down.

"Just more clouds. The Shadows continue to get stronger, but you guys know that already. Do you want me to set up some chairs, or something?"

"I don't think that'll be necessary. Morgan, are you feeling okay?"

"Yep. Right as rain. I guess you were right when you said the valley's on a schedule. It's just not time yet, then. I'll say this, though: I look at this place and I feel like it's some kind of canvas. Like, all the buildings are made from the quartz that's all over this place, and you guys told me your Idols made them based on what was inside you. So... in a way, you all kinda decorated it." Nathan scratched the back of his head, not sure that he agreed with her phrasing.

"Uh, sort of. Not really. I look at that stadium and just see a reminder of a worse version of myself. Who I _thought_ I wanted to be was in there. It's not really some kind of decoration to me." Morgan faltered at his words, turning to him with an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories. I just... I don't know, I realize this is an entirely different world, but... something about it speaks to me. Like it's... like anything could happen here." There was a brief moment of silence before Morgan waved her hands about and said,

"I'm still okay! I don't feel weird or anything." Allie looked to F.Z., who had begun tossing the quartz lump increasingly higher and higher.

"I think we have our answer. F.Z., open a portal so Morgan can go back. It's not safe for her to follow us and we can't leave her alone here."

"You got it." She took the lump of quartz she was holding and trimmed it into a spike, which she used to carve open a portal. Morgan walked around the portal and saw that it was essentially a two-dimensional hole in a three-dimensional environment, appearing completely flat if she looked at it from the side.

"Come on! We should get started. We'll do the warehouse first, then the stadium, and then the museum." Lydia said, waving towards Allie's dungeon. The group began to follow them towards there, but after they noticed Morgan was still hanging around the portal poking at it and swinging her arms through it while F.Z. stood by and looked at her like she was an annoying little kid, Damien lagged behind a bit to shout at her,

"Morgan! Get going already! F.Z. isn't gonna sit there and watch you the whole time!" To his surprise, however, F.Z. shouted back,

"Nah, you guys go on ahead! I'll catch up to you later. I'll keep an eye on her in the meantime!"

"Are you sure? She really doesn't need to be here anymore!"

"Yeah! If any Shadows come by, she's literally right next to the portal and I can make another one if I need to! She'll be fine! You have Jacob for scanning stuff, anyway!"

"Alright! Make sure she doesn't stick around too long!" She probably wanted to talk to the new girl without anyone else around, Damien thought. Without Lydia around, though, there was no telling what would happen between the two. Morgan didn't seem like the type to start drama, but F.Z. was still kind of unpredictable to him. At least if she started annoying her, she could just leave. He turned around and caught up with the rest of the group as they approached the vine fence surrounding the warehouse.

"So, what's your story?" F.Z. asked Morgan, deciding to create a quartz chair for herself to sit down on.

"Um..." She paused.

"What? Do you want a chair, too? You're not gonna hang out here _that long_ , are you?"

"No, it's just... how are you able to do that with the quartz?" F.Z. shrugged.

"No idea. I just can. If I had to guess, it's probably because I died here. And just so we're clear, no, you don't have to walk on eggshells with me. I know I'm dead. I won't be offended if you say so." Morgan folded her hands and watched F.Z. fade in and out in time with her breathing for a few seconds.

"Are you gonna answer my question? I'm not interested in doing a staring contest." Morgan released her hands to smooth out her skirt with them. She then told F.Z. about how she came to be a member of QIB. As soon as she was done, the portal closed and F.Z. rose with the spike in her hand to make a new one.

"So... let me get this straight. You knew Lydia for all of a couple of days before you decided you wanted to get into something you _knew_ was secretive as hell? ...actually, I'm not surprised. I'm really not. You come off like the kind of girl who would stay the night at a haunted house out in the middle of the woods with her friends for kicks. You'd either be the first one to die because you're stupid or end up being the last one to survive because you're lucky." Morgan pursed her lips, unamused by F.Z.'s comments.

"You can think whatever you want about me. I won't stop you. I'm not going to presume to know what you went through, either. You probably won't be seeing me all that much unless this place decides to pull me in next week. I mean, those Shadow things you guys fight are only defeatable because of your Personas, right?"

"Theirs. I don't have one. You don't technically need a _Persona_ to fight. I've been able to use these quartz powers to help out in fights, but even if you had something similar you'd go down like tissue paper against anything we actually fight. Personas don't just act as weapons. They also make the others tougher so they don't instantly die from being hit by lightning bolts, or fireballs, or being punched by a fist bigger than their head. The only reason I haven't pushed you out already is because I know the Shadows never bother leaving the dungeons, and so you're actually safe chilling out here as long as that holds up." Morgan's eyes widened, and a smile grew on her face.

"Ohhhhhh? Then that means I can stay here as long as you're willing to put up with me, then." F.Z. rolled her eyes, forming a small quartz spear in her hand that she could tap on the ground.

"What are you going to do? Annoy me? You were supposed to be gone already. What do we have to talk about?"

"Your name. Or at least, what might be your name. How many different guesses do you have for it already?" F.Z. tapped her spear on the ground.

"Huh. None, actually. They've been trying to figure that out by looking up information about me on the Internet, but it hasn't turned up anything. I guess they don't think just reading me a list of names is going to jog my memory. It's kinda stupid how that's been going so far, actually. I get my memories back piece by piece at pretty much random times, and none of them so far have told me what exactly happened to make me end up in here in the first place - or even something as simple as my fucking name."

"But at least you're making progress, right?" F.Z. tapped her spear on the ground again.

"Yeah. Can't deny that. So, _Morgan..._ what do you think my name could be? I have a feeling that I'm probably going to hate whatever you come up with, but let me hear what you got anyway."

"Felicia. The first name that comes to mind for me is Felicia. I'm not going to guess your last name, by the way, 'cause I don't think that's as important to you." F.Z. crinkled her nose at the name.

"Bleah. What else?"

"Flora?"

"Ew. What else?"

"Um... Fiora?"

"That's almost the same thing."

"Francine?"

"What the hell? No, that's terrible."

"Felicity?"

"That's like Felicia, but less bleah."

"Um... what other girls' names starting with 'F' do I know... " She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. F.Z. tapped her spear on the ground again before deciding to break it into two separate spears that she could hold in both hands.

"Faith?"

"No. Do I _look_ like a Faith to you?"

"Fernanda?"

"That at least sounds Hispanic, but it's still not that good."

"Farina?"

"Where are you even getting these names from? They all sound so... unlike me. But sheesh, I think you threw so many at me that unless my parents decided I needed to be _special_ by having a weird name, that whatever it actually is is probably in that list somewhere. Damn it! That's such bullshit. When I finally get my name back it's going to be something I hate." She stabbed her spears into the ground and left them there, rising from her chair as it disintegrated into quartz dust. She groaned, looking over at the warehouse where the rest of the Persona-users were undoubtedly pounding Shadows into piles of goo right now.

"And before you ask, no. Absolutely none of those names ring a bell for me. It's like Lydia keeps telling me, it'll come to me when it comes. Not any sooner. Even if I hate what it is, I still want to know it. It'll drive me crazy if I never get it back." Morgan looked at her with her purple hair ribbon, purple QIB pin attached to her flowery dress, and found it funny that a fourteen-year-old girl wearing the clothes she was hated the idea of having a girly name.

"I have a feeling you'll find it, F.Z. There are some things I just _know,_ and this is one of them." F.Z. looked back at her and nodded, feeling that maybe she could be friendly with the newest member of QIB.

"Yeah. Thanks. Listen, you really gotta get out of here. I don't want to put up with Lydia or Damien getting after me for letting you hang out here too long."

"Alright. It was nice meeting you, F.Z. I wish we could hang out more, but I think it's about to get real hectic soon from what the others have told me." Morgan turned towards the portal.

"Mmhm. Another dungeon, another step closer to making sense of all this crap."

"Well, if we're lucky, I can do more than just cheer you guys on from the outside." F.Z. picked up one of her spears from the ground and sighed.

"Yeah. Being stuck as a cheerleader sucks. Now go before you make me have to open another portal."

"Alright! I hope to see you again soon!" Morgan said, and stepped through the portal back to the real world. F.Z. chucked her spear as far as she could, watching it as it landed on the ground several yards away. She picked up the other one and said to herself,

"Thing is, the more of you there are, the more I begin to feel like I'm nothing more than a cheerleader." She threw the spear and watched as it turned to dust before it hit the ground.

* * *

 **Original upload date: May 4, 2016**

 **A/N: Since I know someone is going to ask, let's just get this out of the way right now. I will neither confirm nor deny that any of the names suggested to be F.Z.'s first name are actually correct. I've already decided on what it will be a while ago, but you won't get to find out what it is just yet.**

 **SakuraDreamerz - Oh? Do you think Junebug is planning something? Why is he suspicious to you?**

 **Thunderbird013 - I started with Persona 4 Golden myself, but I've gotten around to playing the other Persona games since then. There were other people in the Velvet Room besides Igor in Persona 1 and 2, but they weren't really attendants. Two of them provided the background music (the pianist, Nameless, and the singer, Belladonna) and in Persona 2, there was also the Demon Painter who could make more tarot cards for you to summon new Personas with. The Velvet Room was also accessible by the entire party, as there were no Wild Cards in P1 or P2. What happened to all of the former Velvet Room residents between P2 and P3, who knows. To my knowledge, the attendants from the later games don't really explain their origins, which is the angle I'm going for with Victor.**


	41. Chapter 38

**October 15, 2015 - Thursday, Early Morning - Stormy**

Lydia was nervous as she closed her umbrella and walked into the school building. Almost an entire week had passed and nothing had happened yet; as the days had progressed, they'd started setting up watches and F.Z. had not reported a single thing happening in the meantime besides more clouds gathering in the sky of the valley. It had already been over two weeks since the last incident, which meant the next one was bound to happen any moment now.

The other members of QIB were all hanging out together by the entrance, all of them equally nervous. Morgan was sitting at her table, tapping her fingers on it and widening her eyes as she saw a flash of lightning through the small window in the metal door. She silently counted numbers until the crack of thunder boomed, and let out a small sigh.

"Eight. That means the source of the lightning is a mile away from us. I hate storms. Rain I'm okay with. Thunder and lightning... nuh uh." She said to Lydia. The door opened and a guy wearing a navy blue windbreaker jacket stepped in, taking notice of Morgan's table and going up to her to buy some tickets to the dance.

"It's almost here. I just wish I knew _when_ it was coming." Lydia responded. Damien put his hands behind his head and said,

"We've done literally everything we can possibly do to keep tabs on it. We can't keep our eyes on it every single moment of the day. I know it sucks, but what else do you want us to do?"

"If it's going to happen, it better happen today. Seriously, if this gets in the way of the convention, I'm going to be so mad." Allie huffed.

"Well, it's uh, kinda overdue now, isn't it? I mean, Jacob went there on the last day of September, and it's already the fifteenth..." Nathan said, looking at the sophomore who was leaning against the opposite wall standing next to Allie.

"What are you all talking about?" The guy in the windbreaker asked, placing a pair of tickets in his jacket pocket. Everyone else quickly looked between each other to see who would respond.

"Uh, it's a TV show we're-"

"We're waiting for a release date on this game-"

"Um... well, it's..."

"Nothing special!"

This made the guy in the windbreaker shrug and laugh. He began to walk down the hall, straightening his backpack out.

"Okay. Whatever, guys. I gotta get this other ticket to my girlfriend."

"Thanks for buying your tickets!" Morgan said to him as he walked away. She looked at the rest of the group and nervously laughed before another thunderclap made her shiver. Damien put a hand to his face and said,

"Man, we really gotta work on what we tell people not in the know. Usually, it isn't a problem because we're not all grouped like this at school outside of lunch, and at lunch it's noisy enough that no one pays attention to what we're saying."

"I think someone else would probably be better at explaining it than me." Jacob said. Another rumbling was heard, but unlike the previous ones, this one was accompanied by a scream from outside.

"What the hell?!" Damien said as everyone rushed for the doors. Lydia was closest to one of them, and as she opened it the door hit the face of a girl with wavy brown hair and knocked her back, making her clench her nose in pain. Opening the other door let the others outside to see what had caused the scream - a small black sedan had jumped the curb of the parking lot and crashed into the fence bordering the school.

"Call the police! That's Nori's car!" The girl that had been hit by the door said.

"I'll go get Mr. Marshall to call them. You guys go see if she's okay!" Morgan said, running back inside to go get the nearest teacher.

Other students that were coming in began to all gather underneath the roof covering the sidewalk leading up to the east entrance. Lydia unfolded her umbrella and ran out to the car, being followed by Allie and Jacob, who each had their own umbrellas with Damien and Nathan alongside them, respectively. As they came up beside the car, however, they all noticed that there was no one inside.

"What? Where did she go?" Damien said.

"Nori! Are you there? Answer us!" Lydia cried out as another thunderclap rattled the air around them. The others circled the car, trying to find any trace of someone inside, but to no avail.

"What happened? Where's Nori? How can the car be _empty?"_ Nathan said. Allie wondered the same thing before her eyes landed on one of the broken side mirrors on the car, drops of rain spattering off of it. Inside the car was a large brown purse, its contents spilled out on the passenger seat of the car: makeup, a phone with a cracked screen, tons of folded papers that had scattered all over the seat, and a small doll-like charm that was still hanging from the rearview mirror.

"It's... she's in _there!_ The valley, it... it took her through one of her car's mirrors!" Jacob shouted over the pouring rain. The entire group broke off from the car and ran back to the school building, where Mr. Marshall and several other students had gathered underneath the covering. The teacher moved past the students and said to them,

"What happened? Is Noreen injured? I've already called the police." Lydia decided to speak for the group.

"She wasn't in her car. We don't know what happened to her." Morgan slid through the increasingly dense mass of students that had gathered outside to see the commotion, coming up beside Mr. Marshall.

"She wasn't inside? Hey! Has anyone here seen Noreen Sanchez this morning?" He barked over the sounds of chatter, rain, and thunder. The girl with wavy hair and a bruise on her nose from being hit by the door waved her hand from near the entrance.

"Okay, this isn't going to work." He muttered under his breath. He then turned to the mass of students that had gathered and said,

"Everyone, get inside! Now!" He herded the students inside, where the QIB members all met up beside Morgan's table. Morgan stood up from her chair and leaned in close to the others as they all huddled around her.

"Morgan, we have to go. If anyone asks where we are, tell them we're in the library."

"Okay. Good luck!" In the background, Mr. Marshall had gotten ahold of the wavy-haired girl that had seen the accident.

"Did you see her in the car before she crashed?" He asked her.

"Well, I saw her pulling into the lot, and I looked over to the door for just a second, and the next thing I know I hear the engine roar and by the time I looked back, the car was already about to hit the curb. I couldn't see if she was there or not by then because of the rain." Mr. Marshall sighed, before stepping outside again and standing in front of the doors waiting for the police to come. QIB made their way to the library, which had its own separate restrooms that they could use.

"Really? A _car mirror?_ How small does it have to be?" Damien grumbled.

"Any reflective surface will work, apparently - as long as you can clearly see yourself in it. Well, unless it's one of our own mirrors. Come on, we've gotta go." Allie said, and the group split up by restroom.

* * *

Once they were inside, they immediately saw F.Z. with all of their items in a quartz basket, ready to go. Behind her were two new quartz structures: one was clearly a movie theater, with navy blue quartz forming most of it and white quartz forming what would have been the background for the movie listings, which themselves were written in black quartz. The other was probably the most transparent the group had ever seen, with many glass panels on all three stories of the building. It had an ivory color to its quartz, and through the glass everyone could see what appeared to be armored doors to various rooms, as well as racks of lab coats and safety equipment all over the place.

"What were you guys _doing?_ Sycophanta's already in here!" F.Z. said. Lydia balled her hands into fists and tried to remain calm. Allie looked over at her and said,

"Some of them go to our school and they knew what was going on before us. I'm worried too, but we have to keep our cool. If we just rush in without thinking, it'll hurt us. F.Z., who were the people that got pulled in here?"

"I saw two girls this time - one was this large chick in blue jeans that ran into the movie theater, and the other was some glasses-wearing Hispanic girl in khaki shorts that went into the laboratory. I didn't get much of a chance to explore the both of them, but the Shadows inside them are pretty different."

"How so?" Lydia asked, gathering the items from the basket and distributing them amongst the fighting members of the party.

"Movie theater's cold, like almost refrigerator cold. The Shadows in there are more powerful, but they don't really bother trying to hide themselves. The Shadows in the lab aren't as strong, but I could tell a lot of them were setting up ambushes near all of those doors, and the place itself is full of traps. Both places are about the same size. What are we gonna do?" Damien crossed his arms and looked towards the theater.

"If it's cold in the theater for no reason, the Shadows must be ice-based. Ra and I can take them." Nathan nodded and looked over towards the theater.

"Yeah, if it's just a matter of strength, they won't be able to stand up to us. We're stronger than ever before. I don't want to be slowed down by a bunch of traps we gotta disarm. We can even take on Sycophanta now." Jacob, on the other hand, felt drawn to the laboratory.

"I don't know. I mean, you guys have me now. I should be able to highlight any ambushes the Shadows will try to pull against us, and without their element of surprise, we should be able to get through the lab faster if they're weaker. I can analyze the traps, too - they won't slow us down!"

"I'm inclined to agree with Jacob on this one," Allie said. She continued with,

"Morgan didn't get pulled in, and the only thing we know is that one of the girls got pulled here from her car in our school's parking lot. We don't know which one Nori is because we never saw her leading up to it, and even if we did, we don't know anything about her. But Jacob's Persona can reveal hidden Shadows and traps, and considering Sycophanta is already inside... we need to move as fast as possible." Lydia sighed, knowing where this was going. F.Z. tossed the basket over her shoulder, letting it turn to dust before it hit the ground.

"How many of _them_ are we dealing with?" Lydia asked. F.Z. formed a spear in her hand and used it to gesture between the two dungeons.

"There were four. They split up by pairs. Lynne and Valerie to the lab, Corbin and some other guy he called Rory went to the theater. Rory was dressed like he was some underground treasure hunter; I don't know what he's capable of. I don't care which dungeon you pick, as long as you pick one _right now._ " Lydia quickly turned her head between the two buildings and considered the choice she would have to make: deal with stronger, more straightforward enemies, or deal with smarter, more strategic ones.

 _If we're that much stronger than them, the theater takes less time. If we're not, we'll be slowed down by how long the fights are. We have Jacob and F.Z. to reveal and disarm traps in the lab, but I have a feeling we'd have to solve more puzzles in there and **that's** going to slow us down. I don't know which dungeon came from Nori, but the last time we spent too long trying to figure things out, we ran out of time._

"The theater. Let's go, now! Jacob, get in the air and start scanning it!"

"Right!" Jacob looked into his mirror, the palette being consumed in blue fire as Icarus emerged and encased him in his protective bubble. Everyone ran towards the theater, hoping that they could catch up to whoever was inside before Sycophanta or their Idol did.

At the entrance to the theater, four Shadows sprouted out of the doors to meet them. They were dressed in white suits and dresses, as if they were going to a formal event instead of a typical movie theater. From the air, Jacob scanned them and gathered the information about them.

"They're called Generous Patrons! They can use Mabufula and Maragilao! They're weak to darkness and resist ice and fire!" Lydia nodded as she searched her mind for a suitable Persona, finding one of the Hermit Arcana to do the job. She looked into her mirror and saw her reflection become replaced with that of a boar's before it shattered and brought the Persona forth. He floated before the Shadows with a white cloth covering most of his lower body, with legs that looked like tree roots spreading out from underneath him.

"Hitokoto-Nushi! Use Mamudo!" The boar-faced Persona roared at the Shadows as he swung his short spade-shaped staff at them, creating a rapidly completing circle of dark runes that the Shadows noticed too late to escape. A burst of darkness consumed them all, leaving behind quartz seeds that sprouted in front of the party.

"Alright! You took them all down in one shot!" Jacob said from his spot in midair above the theater. Lydia quickly decided to merge two wand cards together to grant the group more power, and they all moved inside the theater.

"Wow, F.Z., you weren't kidding. I should've brought my jacket in here!" Allie said, remembering that her jacket was still on her seat in Mr. Marshall's class where she had been prior to coming out into the hallway to hang out with the rest of the group. Damien exhaled and was disappointed when he didn't see his breath in front of him.

"So, Jacob, what can you see? Do you know where the Idol is?" He asked. The others all took in the scenery around them, spreading out to absorb it all.

"F.Z., help me out here. I can attune to your position and scan around you. Go check the hallways." Jacob said over his Persona's telepathic connection. F.Z. disappeared into the wind down one of the hallways.

The inside of the theater turned out to be far more extravagant than anyone was expecting: there were red carpets going down both sides of the foyer leading into the hallways, and posters for the movies displayed on the front of the building were arrayed on the walls. Each and every one of them depicted the same person - a young woman with a large frame named Nori Sanchez in the leading role, whether it was as an ingenue in a period piece from the nineteenth century or as the leader of a revolution in a dystopian future with highly advanced technology. A whole gamut of expressions was covered by her poses in each of the posters, and yet as Lydia saw each one, there seemed to be something they all had in common.

"Guys, the Shadows from the snack bar have noticed you!" Jacob said, watching the red dots on his view all move from their cluster in the center of the foyer outwards towards the Persona-users, who had split up into two groups. Lydia turned around and figured that thought of hers would have to wait. On her side was Nathan, who ran close to her as three burly Shadows in black suits approached them. Damien and Allie faced another two Shadows that leapt over the counters in front of them; these were wearing red suits and carried what looked like stun guns on them.

"Lydia, Nathan, your enemies resist physical and are weak to fire. Damien, Allie, your enemies absorb electricity and are weak to water! Watch out, they can paralyze you!" Jacob said quickly, remembering that the group had told him that less words were better.

"No physical, huh? It's alright. Got something fiery on you?" Nathan asked Lydia. Lydia searched her mind and found a Persona of the Magician Arcana with Maragilao in her abilities. Her mirror shattered in blue fire and a bald, pale-skinned woman wearing a long, brown cape appeared before her.

"Dis! Ignite them all!" Dis extended a hand towards the Shadows, her cape fluttering behind her as magical energy welled up underneath her. Fireballs exploded on top of all three of the Shadows, knocking them down.

"Alright! We have an opening for a Fusion Spell!" Nathan said.

"Yeah. Mazionga, on three! One! Two! Three!" The both of them fired their respective elemental spells at the Shadows. The lightning struck the flames and split apart into hundreds of tiny blue bolts, frying the Shadows underneath them. Tepeyollotl swung his staff in approval at the outcome and said,

 _"Very effective indeed. That Fusion Spell shall be named Plasma Fracture."_

On the other side, Allie was immobile, stuck in between steps after having been hit by the stun gun of one of the Shadows. Damien dodged the other Shadow's stun gun, and responded by calling out Ra.

"Torrent Shot!" His Persona appeared before the Shadow and struck it with a flurry of blows, which was unfortunately not enough to bring it down.

Nathan and Lydia rushed over towards him as the Shadows turned their attention to a defenseless Allie. One of them went up to her and flicked a heavy weight attached to the back of the stun gun at her, which hit her across the face and sent her spinning to the ground. The Shadow then took the initiative to target Damien with its stun gun, lunging at him and buzzing him in the abdomen, locking him in place for its partner to smack him down with the blunt end of its weapon. By the time Nathan and Lydia reached them, they got to see the Shadow drop an elbow on Damien's stomach.

"Eat this! Rampage!" Nathan called out, sending Tepeyollotl into the midst of the Shadows to wildly beat them with his staff. The Shadow that Damien attacked was torn to bits by the attack, and the other remaining Shadow stood still long enough for Lydia to come in and blast it with a torrent of water from Ophelia, causing its stun gun to short out and fry it. The two Shadows left behind quartz seeds that sprouted into a Persona card and a sword card. Lydia fused the cards together and realized she had obtained a version of Flauros with Zionga, which was the skill on the sword card.

"Ugh! Paralysis sucks!" Damien said, rubbing his abdomen and standing up. Nathan called on his Persona to heal both him and Allie. Allie huffed and cleaned her glasses on her shirt, making sure they hadn't been bent or cracked in the attack.

"Yeah. It _does_ suck. The only silver lining is that it wears off really quickly, but being knocked down and followed-up on really hurts. Thanks, Nathan." She put her glasses back on and looked around the theater's foyer as Tepeyollotl finished his healing and disappeared. F.Z. appeared in a gust of wind before them and said,

"Went and looked around with Jacob's help while you guys were busy. This place is the exact opposite of his dungeon - we don't have to go around busting all the Shadows' asses to unlock shit. We only need to find out which of the theaters actually leads to wherever they're keeping Nori. Oh yeah, entering any of the theaters locks you in with a bunch of Shadows that you have to fight off before you're allowed to leave if you're not capable of turning into wind and slipping under the doors." Lydia went over to the site of the Shadows she and Nathan had fought a minute ago; she put together a cup card and a wand card from the quartz seeds as she relayed her thoughts on the dungeon.

"It's pretty obvious she wants to be an actress. There are sixteen different movies here and I'm guessing each theater has a different film playing, but according to you and Jacob only one of them has some secret opening or mechanism or _something_ that takes us there. So whatever we pick has to be right the first time, or else we lose time. Also... you two didn't find Corbin or Rory anywhere?"

"We couldn't see them. They must have already found the way up. They're... probably going to set a trap for you after what you guys did to Valerie. Don't worry, once we figure out where we need to go I'll be able to scan that area and see what they're planning." Jacob responded. Allie fished out the item she had taken with her, a small octagonal cube with metal edges and mirrors for faces.

"If that's the case, we'll have to apply this to someone and let them bait out attacks. I don't know what Rory's Persona is capable of, but I remember Corbin's: it was definitely physically-oriented. This mirror cube should allow whoever we send up first to reflect a physical attack."

"Yeah, alright. So do any of you have any idea as to which movie it is? I'm gonna guess the answer is whatever is closest to Nori's true feelings or whatever." F.Z. said, looking impatient. Lydia looked at the posters on the right side of the foyer, noticing that the hazel-eyed Nori was always looking at something to the side of the viewer - as if she was unwilling to meet them eye-to-eye.

"Before the Shadows attacked us, I thought there was something off about the depictions of her in all these posters. Her eyes looked like she was holding something back. Look at this one." Lydia pointed at a poster for _Summer in Valencia,_ which had Nori slyly smiling while holding her left index finger to her lips. She was looking at something to her left while two young men grappled with each other in the background, which happened to be a lavish fountain set in the middle of a cobblestone square with a midday sun shining on top of them.

"She's not looking directly at us. Look at all the other posters; every single one has her looking somewhere else, except one. Which one has her looking directly at you?" Lydia said. The others quickly split up to glance at the posters in the foyer.

Nathan looked over towards the entrance and saw a poster tucked into an alcove, split off from the others. He went up to its frame and saw that it depicted a tiny Nori in a turquoise dress, with her back to the viewer standing at the edge of an area of green grass that had rows of flowers and two huge fruit trees at the edges of the picture. The setting sun was shining such that it revealed that Nori was placing her hand on a huge, transparent barrier, separating her from what appeared to be a wild version of the flora that she was currently standing nearby, with vines paralleling the rows of flowers on the other side of the barrier and less cultivated trees growing near the vines. A dirt path extended in front of Nori into a faraway point in the forest.

The name of the movie was written at the bottom: _The Gift of Release._ Nathan turned to the others and shouted,

"Hey, I think I found it!" The others came over to him and looked at the poster. Jacob focused on the spot that they were at to get a closer look at the poster and said,

"Huh, I didn't even notice that before. F.Z., remember how there was a missing sign in the left hallway, all the way at the back? This movie is the only one that doesn't have a sign pointing to it."

"Yeah. Alright, let's go! Just ignore whatever Shadows you see in the hallway, once you get inside the theater the door will lock on them anyway!" F.Z. said before disappearing into the wind.

The group turned and ran down the left hallway, attracting the attention of three different groups of Shadows before they reached the set of doors at the end of the hallway. They banked left and dashed into the theater, the door slamming behind them. They heard the noise of elemental attacks and the sound of Shadows throwing themselves against the door, and Allie rubbed her arms and shivered a bit before moving forward.

"I really hope it doesn't get colder the further we go in. I'm already starting to feel a little stiff." She said, bringing up the rear as the others moved into the theater. Jacob took a moment to say to them,

"There are four Shadows in here. They can use Mediarama, which means you guys have to focus on one at a time. They can charm, paralyze, poison, and use something called Stagnant Air... Icarus is telling me that makes everyone more susceptible to ailments! They're not weak or strong against anything, either."

The aforementioned Shadows appeared in the seats of the theater, which only had the image from the poster on its screen. They each had a feminine appearance, but each one was distinctly different in size, ranging from one that stood eye-to-eye with Lydia to one that barely came up to her knees. Once they noticed the group, they all jumped from their positions scattered in the theater and lined up in the row closest to the rail separating the back section from the front.

"Focus the small one first! I might be able to petrify them once Stagnant Air gets used!" Allie said, letting someone else make the first move. Damien took the hint and decided to move first, calling on Ra to use Torrent Shot on the smallest Shadow. To everyone's surprise, the largest Shadow leaped in front of the attack, taking the full brunt of it and letting out a human-sounding grunt of pain in the process.

"Okay... didn't see that coming. Focus the big one, then!" Damien called out. Nathan moved next, his eyes focused on the Shadow that had intercepted the last attack as his mirror burned up in his face.

"Go! Fatal End it!" Tepeyollotl reared his staff back with energy and thrust it at the Shadow. The second-tallest Shadow leaped in front of the attack and took it for the biggest one, being knocked into it in the process.

"Oh, come on! Are they all going to do that?" Nathan said as Tepeyollotl disappeared. The smallest Shadow shook its tiny arms as if it was angry, and a dank fog emanated from it, covering the whole room. The second-smallest Shadow then moved, pointing at Allie and firing a shining, purple bullet at her. She flinched, but otherwise took little damage from the attack.

"That was one of the poison attacks. It didn't work on me." She mentioned. She looked into her mirror and called on her Persona.

"Let's do this! Medusa, petrify them all!" Medusa nodded, and her eyes glowed silver as she shrieked at the Shadows. The light turned three of them to stone, only sparing the smallest Shadow.

"There! Take the small one down before it wears off!" She said to Lydia. Lydia called on Dis, who appeared before her with her arms spread out.

"Burn them all!" Dis set them all aflame with Maragilao. Jacob watched the damage it did and noticed that the physical attacks had been more effective.

"You guys should focus on using physical attacks! Those seem to do more damage!"

"You got it. Alright, Ra! Again!" Damien said. Ra appeared and hit the smallest Shadow with Torrent Shot again. He was glad that the theater was cold, as otherwise he would've started sweating from the exertion of using physical attacks. Nathan followed up with another Fatal End, which finally brought down the small Shadow. The others were still petrified, allowing everyone to start another round of attacks against the now-helpless Shadows.

Their focused attacks were enough to bring the largest one down, but once Nathan had used Media to top off everyone's stamina, the remaining two Shadows broke out of their petrification. The taller of the two looked over at Allie and fired a pink bullet at her, which she barely managed to dodge. The other one decided to raise its hands to the ceiling, which caused healing energy to surge through it and its partner.

"They healed up to a little over half!" Jacob let them know.

"Think you can stop 'em in their tracks again?" Nathan asked Allie.

"Yeah. Medusa, you know what to do! Petravira!" Medusa appeared and attempted to turn the Shadows to stone. This time, only the smaller Shadow was rendered helpless by the attack.

"Works for me! Let's take them down before they get a chance to fight back!" Damien called out. Between the concentrated efforts of the Persona-users, both Shadows went down in a volley of multi-target physical and magical attacks. Instead of quartz seeds, the Shadows dropped what appeared to be pieces of a reel of film. F.Z. appeared near the pieces and looked up to a small door at the top of the theater.

"Oh, now it makes sense. That door up there leads to the projector room... bet if you put them together and stick it in the projector, it'll show us how to get to Nori." Lydia went over and gathered the four sections of the reel. They interlocked together to form a complete film reel, which she brought up to the projection room. Allie squeezed past Damien and Nathan as soon as she felt the heat emanating from the small room.

"You know, Ra's fire magic isn't just for melting Shadows. If you want, I can bring him out and have him light a fire near you." Damien said half-jokingly. Allie sighed as she held her arms close to her.

"It's alright. He wouldn't fit in here, anyway."

Lydia stopped the projector and removed the current picture, which was just a slide containing the image depicted on the poster. Once she put in the completed reel and started up the projector, everyone looked to the movie screen to see what would happen. At first, it was the same image - the poster from _The Gift of Release,_ still as it had been before. After a few seconds, the image blurred and refocused on the barrier, where there was now the Nori from before standing on the wild side of the barrier. The camera was positioned so as to be parallel with it, revealing that there was _another_ Nori standing on the pristine side, one dressed in normal clothing to contrast the one who was dressed in a glowing, turquoise-colored gown.

 **"So? Just say the word, and I'll shatter this wall that's keeping you from achieving the full range of your expression! You and I will leave behind this gilded cage that's holding us back!"** Even through the screen, the high-pitched echo of an Idol's voice came through loud and clear to QIB. Nori stood there with her eyes closed and her hands against the barrier.

"Uh, guys? I just picked up a reading way off in the distance. That movie screen, it's actually a portal to where they are right now!" Jacob said, reorienting Icarus to fly towards the spot that he'd just found. This caused the crew to scramble out of the projector room. As they went down the stairs, Allie pulled out the Physical Mirror.

"Wait! Someone needs to use this and go in first! Sycophanta's probably waiting just out of sight!"

"She's right! I can pick up two really strong presences waiting in the same area. I can't analyze them beyond that, though... they're hiding themselves really well." Everyone stopped before the movie screen, which had an edge several feet off the ground. Nathan looked up at it and said,

"Well, I _might_ be able to get inside if I jumped, but what about everyone else?"

"We have our Personas. They should be able to lift us through. Nathan, you're the biggest one, so you take the mirror."

"Alright. Uh, Allie, I guess if you could-" He was interrupted by the sound of the panels of the mirror breaking apart and floating around him for a split second before shattering to create a physical-reflecting shield.

"Thanks. Okay, so I guess I go in, then you guys count to ten or something and then you'll jump in too?" The Idol began talking again, which prompted Nathan to call on his Persona to give him a boost through the movie screen.

 **"How much longer are you going to let yourself be a _prisoner?_ You know it in your heart that you're capable of so much more - if only your family understood that! Well! I think we both know that you can _make them understand..._ all you need to do is say yes. Let me in, and together we will never let anyone restrain us ever again."**

Nathan went through the screen and landed on his feet several yards away from where Nori and her Idol were speaking. As soon as he looked around to see where Corbin and Rory were, a wall of darkness rose out of the ground around him. Without thinking, he threw himself at the wall and shattered it, getting out of the circle of darkness before it exploded underneath him. From behind one of the large trees came out a man who was dressed in a suit that reflected the colors of the tree bark, flowers, and grass around him. He wore a helmet and heavy boots with similar reflective properties, and had several brooches made of precious gemstones and metals affixed to his chest.

"You dodged my Mudoon. Not bad! Guess your football skills didn't let you down _this time,_ Nathan!" He called out to him, grinning as he moved closer. Nathan looked over to the other tree and saw Corbin emerge from the other side, wearing the same tattered brown cloak as before. He said nothing until the rest of QIB came through the portal, at which point he greeted them with,

"It looks like you're not too late this time. Or are you?" He brandished his mirror in a single motion and shouted,

"Gilgamesh! Terraform this land to suit us!" The giant appeared before everyone and leaped between QIB and Nori, plunging his fist into the ground and splitting it open. Huge, spiked rock formations appeared on both sides of the chasm, the impact from the blow shaking everyone. Nori whirled around to see that something had trapped her, and her Idol responded by crossing her arms and scoffing.

 **"What a brute. I believe someone's come to try and talk you out of all this... but at the same time, we've got friends that are willing to make sure you make the _right_ decision. They won't be able to hold them forever! So, what do you say?" **

Nori was about to open her mouth when a breeze blew next to her. Suddenly, there was a young teenage girl in a flower-patterned dress next to her, making her jump and lean against the barrier.

"Listen, whatever you do, do _not_ agree to anything! The asshole that caused that earthquake a second ago is trying to _kill_ the people who are _really_ trying to save you! They're from your school, Nori!" She looked down at the girl who seemed to fade in and out of existence as she breathed, back to the rocks that the giant man had just created by punching the ground, and then down at her shaking knees.

"I... I don't know! Just, just leave me alone! All of you, get away from me!" She collapsed against the barrier and slid down to the ground, covering her face with her hands and beginning to cry. F.Z. looked up at the Idol and glared at it, knowing full well that she couldn't see her.

 **"Hmph! Fine."** She laid down on the ground, staring at the partly cloudy sky of the valley.

 **"Just remember this, other me: you can't ignore me and expect me to go away. You can take your time thinking about it over and over and over and _over_ again, but sooner or later you _will_ have to give me an answer."** F.Z. crouched down beside Nori. She sighed, wondering how Lydia would have handled this. The sounds of battle began on the other side of the earthen wall Gilgamesh had made; if Nori rejected her Idol now, that would only add yet another powerful enemy for the others to deal with, a thought that F.Z. shuddered at. That meant... she had to stall Nori from making a decision until Corbin and Rory were defeated.

"Hey, Nori? Um..." She put on her best impression of an innocent young girl's voice, surprising herself with how natural it seemed to come to her. She paused, wondering what she could say to her to at least get her to listen. Lying would probably work, but if she screwed it up at any point, that would spell disaster. But she was convinced she couldn't just let her sit there - she couldn't contribute anything to a fight against people that could see her, so what else was she going to do to be useful?

"I know... I know things are really scary right now. I know nothing makes sense. I didn't understand what was going on when this happened to me, either." Nori's crying softened up a bit, but she didn't look up at F.Z.

"I saw the movie poster that this place is based on. _The Gift of Release..._ you feel like you're not allowed to be the real you, don't you?" F.Z. let out a breath, feeling like those words were familiar to her as well. She kept on talking, trying to keep up her younger sister facade as best as she could.

"I hated it, too. I learned that sometimes, it's not just other people that hold you back. Sometimes... sometimes you think the real you isn't even good enough, so you try to be someone you think everyone else is gonna like. You think being the perfect daughter is what your family wants, what your friends want... but you know it's all a lie." Her artificial cadence was falling apart, reverting back to her usual pull-no-punches tone. Nori pulled her hands away from her face and finally looked at the strange girl that had appeared before her. She flinched at the eye contact that she was suddenly making with her, looking away immediately and clamming up.

"You'd know about that? I don't even know who you are. How do I know you're just not another crazy fragment of whatever place this is?" Nori spoke, making F.Z. shudder again. She decided to lean up against the barrier and sit down next to her as the sounds of battle continued in the background.

 **"Who are you talking to?"** Idol Nori asked. The real Nori ignored her and paid attention to the ghostly girl that had decided to speak with her. F.Z. shook her head, looked up to her, and said:

"I don't know who I am, either. But I'm starting to figure it out... and maybe if we could talk for a while, we might be able to help each other find some answers." The sound of something heavy slamming into the rocks caught their attention for a second.

"I just hope my friends can finish this before the rest of our enemies arrive."

* * *

 **Original upload date: May 11, 2016**

 **SakuraDreamerz - I think there are other factors to consider that would better support your brainstorming. Also, I just pulled whatever names came to my mind before looking up a list online. I _have_ played Fates, so I guess those two names were at the forefront of my mind when I started writing out Morgan's suggestions.**


	42. Chapter 39

**October 15, 2015 - Thursday, Early Morning - Stormy**

"Gilgamesh! Terraform this land to suit us!" The giant appeared before everyone and leaped between QIB and Nori, plunging his fist into the ground and splitting it open. Huge, spiked rock formations appeared on both sides of the chasm, the impact from the blow shaking everyone. F.Z. turned into the wind and disappeared out of sight, prompting Corbin to shrug. Rory said to them,

"We'll deal with her later. Now, we finally get to come to blows against you all! Don't hold back. We sure won't." He grinned, showing his mirror to QIB by holding it against his chest. It was framed by various types of dark-colored rocks, with a different-colored gem in each corner. He flipped it over, looked at it, and said,

"Don't worry! Yama will help me end this quickly for you. Go, Dark Verdict!" His mirror was consumed by red flames, summoning a red-skinned man in black judge's robes. He wore a tall, purple hat and carried a heavy blade in his hands. As soon as Rory called out the attack, he turned his blade towards the ground and chanted something in a deep voice. A ring of darkness surrounded Lydia, which she tried to jump away from to no avail as it clung to her waist like a snake. She expected it to go off and knock her unconscious, but instead the purple band of darkness remained where it was, giving off vapors.

"Hey! What did you _do_ to her?" Damien shouted at Rory, who merely laughed at him as his Persona went back to his mirror.

"You'll find out soon enough!" He said.

"Guys, I'm trying to get over to where you're at as fast as I can. The technique Rory just used left some kind of buildup of dark energy around Lydia. It might be some kind of delayed attack!" Jacob said, his voice softer than usual due to being far away from the rest of the party.

"Can you tell us what their weaknesses are?" Allie said quietly.

"Um..." From Jacob's perspective, trying to focus on either Corbin or Rory brought up static on most of his displays, the only information available being their Arcana (Corbin was Emperor and Rory was Death) and the abilities they had already used. He looked back to Rory and noticed that no, there _was_ actually one spot filled in where Corbin's wasn't: Yama was immune to darkness, which was hardly surprising considering he used both Mudoon and Dark Verdict.

"Sorry, I can't get a read on them. Gilgamesh is of the Emperor Arcana, Yama is of the Death Arcana and is immune to darkness, that's all I can tell you right now."

"The Death Arcana? Sheesh, how can a guy like _him_ be associated with _death?_ " Nathan asked, watching Rory with his smile and cheerful attitude.

"If he can use darkness, he's more of a threat to us than Corbin right now. Focus him!" Lydia said, thinking of Hitokoto-Nushi and bringing him to the forefront of her mind.

 _"Darkness ours to control! Darkness never hurt us. We crush enemies because I said so!"_ The unusual Persona spoke to her.

"Yes. Now, Tarunda!" He came forth from her and swung his staff at Corbin, causing red-orange energy to pool into him and reduce his strength.

"Got it. Agilao!" Damien said, calling on Ra to set Rory on fire. As soon as he felt the air around him begin to heat up, his expression changed from relaxed to panicked and he instinctively crossed his arms in front of his chest, which helped little as the flames exploded on him and knocked him down. Damien saw his now-helpless opponent and shouted,

"Now, again!" Ra snapped his fingers and blasted him with another plume of flame. Corbin looked over at him and yelled,

"Come on, man! How many times have I told you not to _guard_ attacks when you can _dodge them?_ Gilgamesh, let us show them what real power is like! Mamagnadyne!" He brandished his mirror from his cloak and put it in front of his face as he said this, such that the red flames burned in front of him as his Persona was summoned. Gilgamesh concentrated on a rock forming between his hands for a second before crushing it between them, which dropped a slew of boulders on top of QIB. Allie looked on as the rest of her friends shuddered from the impact of the blow - even Medusa's natural resilience to earth-based attacks didn't stop it from feeling like being hit with a huge rock.

"Damn it... even with Tarunda on him, he's no joke." Nathan groaned. He breathed heavily, looking back to see that both Lydia and Damien were similarly injured from the attack, with only Allie looking better due to her resistance.

"We gotta get back in this. Media...rama!" He said, gazing into his mirror. Tepeyollotl appeared and channeled a surge of healing energy through his staff into the others, bringing them back where they were before being attacked.

"Alright. Sheesh, we gotta keep him down. Tarunda's not gonna last forever."

"Yeah. So, Rory's not good at dodging? Let's make that even worse. Medusa, it's time to slow him in his tracks - Sukunda!" Allie said, calling on Medusa. She extended her hand out towards Rory and clenched it into a fist, sapping his agility with an infusion of green energy. He frowned at her and sighed.

"You really had to do that, didn't you? Fine. You want to play the debuff game? I'll _play_ the debuff game! Yama, let's go!" His mirror shattered, calling forth the judge of the dead. He moved his blade to one hand, and in his free hand he gathered a ball of murky-looking energy and forced it forward at QIB, causing it to explode as it hit the ground and cover the area with fog.

When the fog cleared, Lydia felt a sensation she had hoped she wouldn't ever feel again: an inability to make a full connection to her Persona, preventing her from using any sort of magical abilities. On top of that, the tendril of dark energy that hugged her waist now grew in size, covering the lower part of her torso. From above, Jacob noticed that Nathan's physical barrier had activated in response to the attack, reflecting his portion of the damage at Rory, who flinched from the recoil. Everyone besides him had been silenced by what his Persona was telling him was called Seal Bomb.

"Guys, that attack was Seal Bomb! It's preventing you from using magical abilities! Lydia, do you have a Patra Gem with you?"

"I've got one. We have a couple of them, but they only work on one person at a time. Allie! This one's yours!" She primed the gem before tossing it at her. She caught it and it activated on contact, curing her of the magic seal.

"Alright!"

"Screw you, Rory!" Damien shouted as he called on his Persona to attack him physically. Rory withstood a Torrent Shot from Ra, and afterwards said nothing in response, merely grinning and shrugging at Damien.

"Now that your barrier's gone... let us see if you can withstand the fury of the king!" Corbin brandished his mirror in the same fashion as before, and Gilgamesh appeared and immediately turned his attention towards Nathan. His usual stony expression turned to one of rage, and he lashed out with his whip at him. Nathan attempted to get out of the way, but was hit in the shoulder by the huge whip and was sent reeling by the blow. He stumbled about, struggling to maintain his balance, but managed to remain standing.

"Hmph. That should have sent you flying." Corbin remarked as his mirror returned to his hand.

"Whatever. Come on, Persona!" He attacked Rory with Tepeyollotl's Zionga, which connected and made the spelunker grimace in pain.

"Jacob, any new info?" Allie asked.

"Yama is weak to fire. He has two other physical attacks, Blade of Fury and Tempest Strike. Blade of Fury is like Rampage, but stronger, and Tempest Strike singles out someone. Gilgamesh can use both Magnadyne and Mamagnadyne, and that attack he hit Nathan with was called Vile Assault - it hurts more if you're knocked down! He's still able to use Terraform, too. Still don't know his weakness."

"Okay. Well, if he uses earth, he's probably resistant or immune to it. Lydia! You should try attacking him with wind or water - those two elements erode earth, so one of them is likely to exploit his weakness!" Lydia nodded as Allie prepared her next attack.

"Viper Strike!" Allie's compact mirror burned away in blue flames and brought forth Medusa. She lunged towards Rory, who was too slow to dodge the poisonous strike. He cringed as he felt the poison enter his system, which prompted Corbin to say to him,

"You have the power to end all of these idiotic teenagers with Yama on your side! Get it together!" Rory nodded, looking at his mirror momentarily and seeing his reflection change to that of Yama's, who looked angry. He took a breath and steadied himself.

"Yeah. Alright. Time to stop messing around." He remained quiet as he called on his Persona. Yama took his blade and infused it with darkness, before leaping forward and planting it in the ground directly in front of him. This sent out a pulse across the grass that generated a purple sphere of darkness around QIB.

"Get out! Everyone, dive!" Nathan shouted, leaping towards the barrier and smashing his section of it with his shoulder. As he hit the ground, the sphere of darkness exploded. He got up and turned around to see if everyone was okay: both Allie and Damien were standing up after having hit the ground away from the detonation.

Lydia had not budged an inch and was no worse off for having done so. The tendrils of darkness that were gripping her now spread out to her chest and legs, and attempted to constrict her as they pulsated with dark energy. She remained completely calm as Dark Verdict finally activated, the tendrils all pulling apart at various points on her body before tearing themselves off, dissolving into nothing as they flew in several directions. She looked herself over for any remaining bits of darkness.

 _"It comes true because I said so! Darkness never hurt us!"_ Hitokoto-Nushi said in her mind. She smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Indeed. Thank you for protecting me." She said to her other self. Rory took off his helmet and threw it at the tree he was formerly hiding behind, clenching his fists and seething in silence at having failed to harm anyone with either Mamudoon or Dark Verdict. Corbin was also silent, crossing his arms and opting to keep his eyes on the girl that had completely nullified his partner's most powerful attacks. Her eyes turned to Damien, who was holding another one of the group's Patra Gems.

"Damien, I need you to use that on me. They've stopped holding back, which means we need to go all out too."

"You got it. I'm still working on the seal, but I'll do the best I can." He primed the gem and tossed it to her, where it activated in her hand and cleansed the magic seal from her. She searched through her mind and found Ophelia ready and waiting. She took a deep breath and said,

"Now it's _our turn!_ We'll show you just how strong we've become!" Blue flames preceded Ophelia's appearance, and Lydia recalled the feeling of single-minded fury that had taken hold of her when she had been controlled by the Shadow left behind at Jacob's museum.

"You will drown beneath the waters!" She shouted, and Ophelia surged with the energy of her mind as she twirled in midair, causing a huge wave of water to rise up from in front of her. Corbin and Rory glanced at each other before they both stood their ground, knowing that there was no way they could dodge a wave as tall as Gilgamesh. The water lifted them both off of the ground and slammed them both into the rock barrier Gilgamesh had made, making a sound that echoed through the rest of the valley. Rory managed to use the rocks to quickly get back up as he recovered from the attack, but Corbin fell flat on the ground. He rolled over in pain from the attack, which prompted Jacob to come over the telepathic connection and say,

"You found it! He's weak to water! Keep going, keep going!" Lydia ran forward, the others following behind her. Overloading Ophelia to allow her to use Maraquadyne instead of Maraques had exhausted a whole third of her mental energy, which meant this next attack would have to be much weaker in order to keep herself from running dry.

"Of course! Aques!" Ophelia whirled beside her, inundating an already-wet Corbin with another jet of water.

"Everyone, focus him while he's down!" She commanded.

"Torrent Shot!"

"Zionga!"

"Viper Strike!"

The three successive attacks left him barely able to stand. He was panting heavily, but managed to crack a smile despite his wounds. He looked down at his mirror and coughed.

"This... this isn't over." From the skies, Jacob had finally managed to get a bird's eye view of the action going on in that particular section of the valley. Around Corbin, a lot of energy was beginning to flow outwards from him, having been triggered by his weakened state.

"Guys, he's going into some kind of critical mode! Watch out!" He told them. They backed away as Corbin dropped his mirror, red flames consuming it before it hit the ground. Gilgamesh appeared before him, looking just as ragged, but still as imposing as ever.

"We don't need to win... we just need to make sure you _lose!"_ Corbin shouted. Gilgamesh smashed the ground with his fist, causing the earth underneath QIB to collapse and drop them all into a hole several feet deep. He turned to Rory and said,

"Now! They can't escape from you! Finish them off!" Rory focused through the poison eating away at him, took hold of his mirror, and called forth Yama, who looked down into the pit and smiled.

"Mamudoon, now!" Yama planted his sword into the ground, sending a pulse of darkness along the ground. From within the hole, Lydia said to the others,

"Call your Personas! We have to get out of here!" As everyone's other selves appeared beside them, the pulse of darkness from Mamudoon created a huge sphere of darkness within the hole. Their Personas began to carry them upwards through the sphere, and due to Nathan's Persona having the most physical strength, he was out of the sphere before anyone else. He landed on the ground next to the hole, and turned around to see that Damien and Allie had also managed to get out in time.

"Wait, where's Lydia?" He said, fearing that she hadn't been able to get out in time. He looked down into the hole and saw his fears confirmed, as she lay unconscious at the bottom of the hole, her mirror several feet away from her.

"No! How could she not have made it out in time? We all jumped together!"

Damien and Allie peered over at the hole, glancing down to see that their leader really had succumbed to the incapacitating effect of the darkness and was now laying on her back with her eyes closed.

"Ophelia's not immune to darkness like her last Persona was. She's also not very physically capable, which means... she wasn't strong enough to get her out in time." Allie said, feeling around for the Revival Bead in her pocket. Now that Lydia was out of commission, the job of leader fell to her. Corbin and Rory were weakened, which meant that between the three of them remaining, they should at least be able to bring down Corbin before either of them could fight back. Rory was clearly the worse fighter out of the two of them, and she knew that he would be easy pickings once Corbin was down.

"F.Z.! You need to get over here, now! Lydia's been knocked unconscious!" Jacob called out.

"I'm tossing the Revival Bead into the hole so F.Z. can get it. Damien, Nathan, we need to finish this already. I've had about enough of these two." Damien cracked his knuckles and said,

"Right there with you. The seal's gone, which means Rory's all mine now."

"They're going to pay for hurting her." Nathan growled. Allie nodded, and looked to Sycophanta to gauge their reactions at the recent turn of events: Corbin looked desperate and tired, with Rory edging up against the rock formation and probably wishing his camouflage gear made him completely invisible.

"Damien, go. Nathan after him. I'll be right behind you two." Allie said. Damien's eyes flashed for a moment as he brought out Ra, and he pointed at Rory and shouted,

"Maragilao! Bring them _down!"_ Ra set a flame underneath both of them and ignited it, making Rory crumple to the ground and making Corbin have to lean against the rock just to remain standing.

"They can't fight back now. We should use a Fusion Spell." He said to Allie.

"Okay. All three of us, together!" A breeze blew by the three of them as they charged up their respective elemental attacks. Corbin reached out with his hand and attempted to summon his Persona to try and stop them while they were focusing, but found the process of calling forth Gilgamesh to go so slowly that by the time the giant appeared, a meteor surrounded by ignited plasma with its hundred of tiny branching bolts collided with both him and Rory, while also destroying the terrain that he had formed to separate Nori from the rest of the battle. The impact sent the both of them flying towards the trees they had hid behind at the start of the fight, and Nori shivered as she leaned up as much as she could against the barrier separating her from her Idol. Medusa looked upon the handiwork of her and her partners and said:

 _"Plasma Meteor. I like the sound of that. Don't you agree?"_

 _"Burning electricity, combined with the power of the earth. It is a very appropriate name."_ Ra spoke, tipping his hat.

 _"Yes, but we have other matters to attend to at the moment! We must make haste!"_ Tepeyollotl said, pointing his staff at the hole that Gilgamesh had created. The Personas all disappeared and Nathan, Allie, and Damien all rushed back to the hole to see if Lydia was going to be okay. They looked down and saw that Lydia was now standing up, holding her mirror and talking to F.Z.

"Lydia! Hey, are you okay?" Nathan called from the top of the hole. Lydia waved and summoned Flauros, who carried her out of the hole as F.Z. turned into the wind to get out of the hole. Her breathing was heavy, and although she tried to keep a smile on her face, everyone could tell she was hurting.

"Here. You need this." Nathan pulled out a small, unassuming magenta bead from his pocket and handed it to her. Lydia recognized it as a Diarahan Stone, which was the proper name for the item after F.Z. had originally wanted to call it the Allheal Bead and was overruled by Ophelia telling her there was an actual spell with the same effect. She curled her fingers around the stone and let it fill her body with energy, restoring her back to full stamina in a matter of seconds. She opened her hand and a small pile of dust hit the ground.

"Thanks. F.Z.'s told me that she was with Nori trying to make sure she didn't do anything with her Idol. We all need to heal up as much as we can, because we're not done here yet." Allie gave Nathan the Chewing Soul she had on her and he used his Persona to heal everyone. Lydia used her own Chewing Soul to restore her mental energy to about two-thirds of her full capacity. After they were done, they all walked over to Nori, who was still sitting on the ground against the barrier. Her Idol was still laying on the ground, basking in the sunlight of the valley with her arms and legs spread out.

Nori looked up at the group of people that had appeared out of thin air to save her, and she stood up to meet them. With the exception of Nathan, she stood taller than all of the other members of QIB, but even with the height difference she still felt small before them.

"So... you guys are here to save me from myself? That's what F.Z. has been telling me. She also said that we all go to the same school." Lydia stepped forward and said,

"Yes, we're all from Fulton. I'm Lydia, that's Allie, this is Damien, and Nathan's the tall one. There's also Jacob, who's been watching over us in the skies. Say hi, Jacob!"

"Hi, Nori! My Persona allows me to speak to you in your mind!" Nori flinched at hearing Jacob's voice in her head, and looked up to the sky to see a figure floating in place above everyone.

"And you already know F.Z. We're the Quartz Idol Busters." Lydia finished.

 **"What is going on now? Have you finally made a decision yet? I'm starting to lose my patience with you!"** Nori's Idol said, getting up from the ground and looking over at QIB. She sighed, crossing her arms.

 **"You all are just the kind of people that she's been trying to get away from. You're the kind that think they know what's _best_ for her. She doesn't _need_ anyone else, you know. She's independent. She knows more than anyone else what will make her happy!"** Nori turned to face her other self.

"You're right about that. I know what I want..." She began to say, but stopped speaking and closed her eyes, trying to collect her thoughts. QIB grew nervous watching her - trying to interrupt this exchange would probably just confuse Nori even further. Lydia glanced at F.Z., who was the calmest out of everyone. Whatever she had said to her would now determine whether they were going to succeed or fail.

Nori put both her hands on the barrier as she continued speaking.

"I know what I want. You look like me, you talk like me, you even act like me. You know the kind of person I want to become, and it sounds like I'd be really happy if I went with you... but there's just something _wrong_ about it that I can't ignore. Why does becoming who I want to be have to involve all of this... whatever this is, this other world and all of this crazy stuff? You're right about one thing - I determine my own fate, and I have the right to choose who I want to become. But that's where the similarities end. You want to take me into the wilderness away from everything I know and understand, but that's too much! Not _everything_ on this side of the fence is terrible! I want to be able to experience the _best_ of both worlds, and with you I can't do that. So no. My answer to you... is no." She took her hands off of the barrier, and took a step back.

Her Idol responded by dropping her arms to her sides and her head towards the ground. Her aura began to turn black, her body flashing with the distinctive moving zebra stripes QIB had come to expect by now. She said in a low voice:

 **"Is that so? You'd rather keep those hooks in you. You'd rather be a puppet pulled around by your strings than embrace the freedom you deserve. I see you're too brainwashed by other people to understand the truth, then. In that case..."** Nori ran away from the barrier and tried to hide behind Nathan, but he pointed to the tree and said,

"Yeah, you have to hide over there! Come on, I'll move Rory out of the way for you. Damien! We need to put these guys in the hole before the Idol attacks us!"

"Gotcha. Ra, let's do this!" He called on his Persona, Nathan doing the same as Nori trailed behind him. Lydia and Allie stood facing the Idol as she was encased in a rapidly growing quartz cocoon.

"Oh, no. Um... this is bad. This is really bad." Jacob said.

"What is it? Do you sense something about the Idol?" Lydia asked.

"N-No! The other dungeon disappeared! That means Lynne and Valerie are free again! They're heading towards the theater right now!" Lydia put her hands together and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down as the cocoon reached its maximum size. As it shattered, it took the transparent barrier with it. Damien and Nathan ran back to where they were standing and beheld the Idol's monstrous form.

She was something between a plant and a woman, being made of vines, flowers, roots, and foliage. She was at least as tall as the trees to the sides of QIB. Her face was made of tree bark, and her hair was made of flowery vines that went all the way down her back. Her torso was wrapped in thorny vines that spread out to the rest of her extremities, as if it was mirroring the nervous system of a human body. She looked over at the tree Nori was hiding behind and said,

 **"You can't run away from yourself! Stop believing in their lies and become one with me!"**

From the skies, Jacob was watching Lynne and Valerie run over to the movie theater. QIB would have to hope that it took them a long time to figure out where they were, or else they'd be surrounded by enemies.

"Hey, Jacob. I'm going back there to run interference." F.Z. spoke.

"The portal that took you all here is one-way. Are you sure you'll get there in time?" He asked.

"I'm literally as fast as the wind! You haven't seen how fast I can go yet. Listen, you need to focus on helping the rest of them fight that thing. This isn't like your dungeon - there isn't a roof for me to collapse on top of the Idol this time. I can't do anything else. Just trust me!"

"That's fine with me. Every second counts. F.Z., make sure you come back to us." Lydia said as she nodded to her.

"Of course I will. Now hurry up!" F.Z. said, disappearing into the wind and blowing by everyone with the speed of a hurricane. They turned to face the Idol, who was still fixated on Nori. Lydia looked into her mirror and thought,

 _We have to take this thing down before Lynne and Valerie get here. I don't think we can take on all three of them at once. I'll have to thank F.Z. for helping convince Nori to reject her Idol; without her unique abilities, we couldn't have gotten this far already. But she's not done yet, and neither are we. We just defeated half of Sycophanta! We can surely take on another Idol._

* * *

 **Original upload date: May 18, 2016**

 **Last revision was on: May 23, 2016**

 **A/N: I gotta say, I wasn't sure where this fic would have ended up in a year. I was afraid I'd lose the will to continue it at some point, and for several months, I kinda did. I always wished I could have one of those big stories, the kind you sit down multiple times to read through because it's just that long, and good enough to merit reading it all. I think I've certainly accomplished that, as I know there are still plenty of people that follow along with this story (shout-out to all you lurkers out there, I know how it is). There's still so much to go, but I think if I've gotten this far, I can see this story through to the end, even if it takes another year or more.**

 **By the way, if you didn't know, I have a collection of bonus material related to this story on this site called All the Myriad Ways. If you've ever wondered how things would've turned out if say, Alexander was the protagonist instead of Lydia, you should check it out.**

 **[5/23 update: I forgot Nathan had applied a Physical Mirror before the battle started. I updated the battle sequence to reflect (no pun intended) that.]**


	43. Chapter 40

**October 15, 2015 - Thursday, Early Morning - Stormy**

"Jacob, what are we dealing with?" Allie asked as the Idol turned her attention to the tree that Nori was hiding behind. From the air, Jacob looked away from Lynne and Valerie heading into the theater and over at the Idol.

"It's weak to fire, absorbs water, resistant to wind, and immune to light, darkness, and all status ailments. It _really_ looks like it wants to go after Nori, though! You guys should watch out for her! She has a tenth of the stamina any of you have - it could seriously injure her with just a single attack!" He had made sure to keep Nori out of the loop regarding that information; that she was really that fragile - more so than F.Z., who could at least take a third of the punishment any given member of QIB could - made him wish he could just swoop down and scoop her up in Icarus's protective orb.

 _"As much as I would also like to do that, it would only put both of us in danger. We'd never get down there in time."_ Icarus spoke to him.

"Then I guess we're just going to have to burn it down! Agilao, now!" Damien called out, commanding his Persona to set the huge plant-woman monstrosity ablaze. Ra's attack landed on the torso of the Idol, but even though it recoiled in pain, it was too large for that single attack to make it fall over.

 **"No! You cannot stop me, fools! I will _have her!_ " **The Idol shouted as it retaliated by extending her hand out, the vines comprising her body acting to allow it to stretch towards the tree. Nori screamed and ran away from the tree in the other direction from the hand attempting to grab her. The vines retracted and the Idol's thorny nervous system glowed for a moment before the flowers comprising her hair bloomed red instead of the white they were before. Jacob saw that this had changed her weaknesses and resistances.

"It's changing! Fire won't work anymore - it absorbs it now! Now it's weak to ice, resistant to earth, and wind does normal damage! The rest is still the same."

"So did it try to attack her because we exploited its weakness? Is that why it changed what it's weak to? Ugh, I don't know!" Allie said, looking up at the Idol whose eyes were focused on her other self running away as fast as she could.

"Nathan, you need to go back and guard Nori. Protect her at all costs. The rest of us will go on the offensive." Lydia said as the Idol began to take steps forward towards them.

"Yeah, okay! I'm on it!" He turned away from them and ran full speed towards Nori, who was still running through the fields of well-trimmed green grass and flowers that seemed to go on for at least another mile in that direction.

"So, ice..." Lydia looked down at her mirror and saw the image of a woman with bountiful rose-colored hair replace her reflection.

"Parvati! Freeze it with Bufula!" The mirror caught fire and was consumed by it, bringing forth her Persona. She twirled in midair, causing ice crystals to implode on the torso of the Idol. This caused her to stagger, and she growled before changing her attributes once again, the flowers in her hair now turning a light green.

 **"Enough! I will give you what you deserve!"** Nori's Idol shouted, and she responded immediately by extending a hand out towards the Persona-users and grabbing at the air in front of them. Behind them, a wave of blue energy pulsed and hit all of them except Nathan, who had almost caught up with Nori. The blow made them stagger, and suddenly they all felt like something was draining their minds of energy. Jacob looked down and saw that their auras were clouded by mental energy that was steadily leaking from them, giving them all a sickly blue tint.

"I've never seen that ailment before! The Idol is causing your mental energy to leak out of you!"

"Ugh, just great. What about Nathan?" Damien asked.

"I'm fine! The attack couldn't reach me!" Nathan called out from his position. Nori heard him and looked back, and then continued running away from the thing that was trying to kill her.

"Hey, slow down! I'm trying to guard you!" He said to her. He had been gaining on her the whole time she'd been running away, to the point where he could lunge at her and catch her ankle if he really wanted to. She looked back at him, saw that they were a good distance away from the Idol, and slowed down, coming to a stop next to a pile of daisies. She put her hands on her knees, panting, looked up at him, and said:

"Okay. Okay. How do you think you're going to... guard me from _that?"_

"Weak to wind now!" Jacob spoke in the background. Nathan turned around and saw Medusa assaulting the Idol with Viper Strike. After that, Damien followed up with Torrent Shot, and when Lydia attacked, she called out another Persona - a green snake with many heads - to blast the Idol with a large gust of green-tinged wind, a skill Nathan's Persona told him was Garula. At having her weakness exploited yet again, the Idol growled and looked down at Lydia.

 **"You and your many faces... it must be _hard_ keeping up so many lies!"** The Idol's voice carried throughout that section of the valley, allowing Nori and Nathan to hear it from where they stood. Nori watched as the floral monstrosity leaped at Lydia, making the other Persona-users scatter as the vines surrounding her nervous system spread apart to try and capture her. She turned away to try to run, but was captured by the mass of vines and drawn into the Idol's body.

Lydia's mirror fell to the ground as the Idol reformed herself where she once stood, now with her head poking out of the side of the Idol's body. She struggled to move, but her body was tightly bound by vines that were encasing her in a cocoon-like structure.

"Uh, that's not good." Nathan remarked. Nori scoffed at him.

"Not good?! That's an understatement! What are we supposed to do now? What even happened to that ghost girl, anyway? Where is she?"

"She's back in the theater slowing down the other bad guys who have Personas like the guy who made that big rock formation."

* * *

F.Z. reformed herself in front of the theater for a brief second to see if Lynne and Valerie were there. After seeing that they had already gone inside, she disappeared and reappeared inside the snack bar, believing it to be a good place to get the drop on them since a pack of Shadows had attacked QIB from within it. She heard Jacob's voice relaying the weaknesses of Nori's Idol in her head, quieter than normal due to her distance from him.

"So, where exactly did they go? I don't sense anyone but Shadows in here!" A sharp, haughty voice rang out from near the entrance to the right hallway. F.Z. concealed herself behind the drink machine and saw that Valerie was standing by the ticket check stand looking impatient with her arms crossed. F.Z. looked over to see that Lynne was inspecting the _Summer in Valencia_ poster.

"There's a reason for that. You _could_ help me figure out the clue to reaching them instead of standing around, or you could at least start searching the theaters to see where the mechanisms we need to activate in order to reach our allies are." Valerie sighed, readjusting her glasses.

"Fine. I'll go look inside the theaters on this side. You can puzzle over posters and let me know when you've found your secret." She began to walk away before stopping for a moment. Her senses were telling her that pent-up energy was concentrated on each of the doors.

"The doors are rigged? Really? How annoying. Never mind, I'm not going. Lynne, what are you trying to look for in the posters?" Lynne turned to her.

"What did you say about the doors?"

"They've got some kind of energy buildup on them. You know, like the fifteen-or-so traps we went through in that other Nest?" Lynne nodded, acknowledging the info.

"Alright. Then it should be pretty simple to find where we need to go. We just need to see which of the doors have already had their traps triggered. I imagine we'll pick up on some kind of sealed barrier or a portal if we're in the right place. Let's do this hallway first." She began to walk towards the same hallway Valerie was next to.

F.Z. recognized that the hallway they were going down was the wrong one. She watched them both go down it and figured that now was the best time to make her move.

"Can't fight them, but I can sure as hell slow 'em down." She said to herself, taking a deep breath before running up to the large entryway and forming a huge wall of quartz in front of it, spanning several feet wide and several feet high. She then went over to the other entryway and formed another wall to seal herself inside the hallway.

"And now I gotta trip all these traps." She inhaled deeply and zipped into each of the theaters, making the doors lock as soon as they sensed they'd been opened and closed. In her mind, she could hear Jacob rattling off the changes in the Idol's weaknesses as they changed. After she was done sealing the theater directly across from the one that actually held the portal, she looked over to the wall of quartz she had made and saw that it was still up - for exactly one second before it was turned to ash. Midas disappeared back into Valerie's mirror as she and Lynne stepped into the hallway. Lynne looked to see that not only were all the doors locked except for the one at the end of the hallway, but also that a small Hispanic ghost girl in a flowery dress stood next to it.

"Of course. Who else would be behind this? Valerie, let's go!" The moment the both of them took a step forward, F.Z. disappeared into the wind and went into the theater she had just come out of. She reformed a few feet inside, glimpsing the Shadows that had popped up and were roaming around trying to find whatever had activated the trap before turning around to face the door.

"Damn it. What am I supposed to do now? They're probably going to come charging through any second. Wait. The projector..." Without wasting a second, she turned into the wind, went across the hallway into the other theater where the portal was, and reformed just in time to see Lynne standing below the screen, watching the Idol come apart and capture Lydia in its vines.

"Hey! Over here, bitch!" F.Z. shouted, throwing a quartz javelin at Lynne to get her attention. As soon as the weapon left her hand, she disappeared into the wind and reformed at the top of the theater next to the projector room. The quartz javelin glanced off of Lynne as if she was made of stone, and she looked up to see F.Z. throw open the door. By the time she realized what was happening, F.Z. had taken a quartz hammer and smashed the projector, destabilizing the portal and abruptly cutting the image on the theater screen off. Lynne sighed, bringing her mirror to her face and seeing her reflection be replaced with that of the bloodthirsty redhead, Rosalia.

F.Z. came out of the projector room and looked down at Lynne as she turned around to face her. Now that the portal was gone, Lydia and the others would be able to finish off the Idol without any further interference - she knew had actually done something useful for them, again.

"I saw what you did to Jacob's Idol's Nest. You're more capable than I gave you credit for." Lynne spoke as her mirror burned up in red flames, calling Rosalia to her side. Her Persona gave F.Z. a murderous look, a stark contrast to the unnaturally calm expression on her other self's face.

"Yeah? That's what you get for underestimating me." F.Z. responded, ready to turn into the wind again as soon as Rosalia made a move.

 _"It's too bad all it'll get you is an eternity of suffering!"_ Rosalia shouted, her eyes turning completely red as she clinched her teeth, grinning madly. F.Z. briefly saw the air around her turn blood-red before she became the wind, furiously blowing by both Lynne and Rosalia before passing by Valerie and out of the theater complex entirely. Valerie straightened out her hair and walked forward to see a furious Rosalia disappearing back into Lynne's mirror.

"Don't tell me. I don't even want to know what just happened, because I'm absolutely certain that little _wisp_ just foiled our only way to get over there _."_ She preempted her comrade's words. Lynne's response was to cross her arms and shake her head.

"It's impossible to catch her when she can become the wind." Valerie made a tsking sound with her mouth and turned around to the doors of the theater.

"Then how do you suggest we deal with her? She never sleeps, she never leaves this place, and we can't stop her from being a thorn in our side." Lynne began to think for a moment when her mirror caught on fire, bringing forth Rosalia who floated in the air between them.

 _"She was completely forlorn until **they** showed up! They're the ones that have been giving her a reason to care again. Listen, both of you... she's nothing without them to give her a purpose. The Shadows continue to grow stronger in spite of our enemies' efforts, and this place continues to gather energy. Soon enough, we won't even need it to offer people the opportunity to seize their better selves. When that happens, **they're** going to be the ones who look like fools!"_ She dissipated, Lynne taking hold of her mirror once again. She looked over at Valerie and said,

"I'm leaving. There's nothing more for us to do here right now. I suspect the remaining Idol will be defeated and her other self will join Lydia's group. I will need to prepare to retrieve Gina from the shelter, since I imagine the stormy weather will keep her there for a while. I'll let you know how she's doing as soon as I can." She began to walk towards the exit. It occurred to Valerie that she could've had her Persona open a portal back to the real world right there, but apparently Lynne wanted to take a walk instead.

"Fine. I've had enough of this for today as it is. I hope what your Persona said about making fools of them will be right. I can't _stand_ even the thought of them anymore. Midas!" The golden king came when called, and waved his staff in front of Valerie to open a portal back to the real world for her. Lynne went through the doors of the theater and walked down the long hallway.

She was going to ask her other self exactly what she meant by no longer needing the valley.

* * *

"Lydia! Hold on, we're gonna get you out of there!" Damien called out to her as he and Allie looked up at the Idol. From the skies, Jacob saw that the flowers on the Idol's hair had now closed, and it seemed that she no longer had any visible weaknesses. According to Icarus's readout, the attack that she used before grabbing Lydia was called Anima Shock, and the ailment it caused was known as Mental Exhaustion, which not only was sapping the energy they needed to cast spells, but was also lowering their defenses.

Lydia looked down to the ground where her mirror lay. As she was contemplating how she could possibly get it back, Ophelia spoke within her mind, saying,

 _"That mirror is a part of you. You can call it back to you whenever you want, the same way you can summon one of us. I've also noticed that the vines binding us work two-way at transferring effects... whatever is done to the Idol will also be done to us, and vice versa."_ Lydia nodded, and focused upon the mirror, willing it to come back to her. In a flash of blue light, it blinked into her hand - but since she was wrapped in a cocoon of vines, it merely squished her even harder than she was already.

"Ra, we need to cut her out of there! Torrent Shot, go!" Damien called. Lydia watched as his Persona came forth and struck the Idol near where she was trapped, and the vines binding her to it reacted by making her feel every blow Ra dished out. She cringed in pain, and Jacob reacted to it by saying,

"What? Lydia was hurt by that, too!" She nodded, panting from the blow.

"Yeah, I was just about to tell you-"

 **"See! You can't hurt me without hurting her too! You're not willing to sacrifice your friend to take me down, are you? Give me Nori and then I'll let her go!"** The Idol bellowed. Nori looked over at Nathan and said,

"No! I... what are you gonna do?" He was about to respond when Lydia started talking again, saying,

"Don't worry about me! We can't let this thing win! I'll try and get out of here myself - you guys need to keep fighting!" Nori was surprised that she could hear her from so far away, but then she realized it was probably just another weird thing about this place. Nathan clenched his fists, wishing he could join in on the action, but he knew he had to stay where he was and defend Nori if the Idol made a move towards her.

"I gotta stay here. I can't leave you by yourself. That _thing_ clearly wants to hurt you, and I can't let that happen. I believe in my friends. They'll figure it out!"

Lydia struggled to move around inside the Idol's cocoon. She wondered if she could still summon her Persona even without looking at the mirror, but found that the spiritual energy wouldn't channel without her reflection staring back at her. She closed her eyes, trying at least to imagine that Dis was at the forefront of her mind instead of Yamata-no-Orochi. When the bald-headed young woman became visible in her mind's eye instead of the multi-headed snake, she knew she had succeeded.

"Use fire! Allie, you still have that Agilao Orb! Use it! I managed to switch my Persona to one that reflects fire!" Allie retrieved the flame-containing orb from her pocket.

"Okay! Take _this!"_ She tossed it at the Idol. The orb exploded upon contact, sending a plume of flame through its body. When it reached Lydia, the fire flowed outwards from her as it touched her skin, shooting back through the vines that surrounded her and amplifying the damage the orb did. The Idol groaned in pain, seething at the loophole her enemies had managed to exploit. She focused her eyes on Nori, who was standing behind Nathan in the distance.

 **"That's it! I'm going to get you even if it _kills me!"_** She shouted, and immediately began charging forwards towards Nathan and Nori. Nori immediately turned and ran in the other direction, with Nathan following behind her. Damien and Allie chased after the Idol, but were quickly being outpaced by it due to its large strides across the grass. Nathan called on his Persona and shouted,

"Rampage! Go for the legs!" Tepeyollotl leaped at the Idol's thighs and whipped his staff around, causing her to lose her balance and fall face-first into the ground. Lydia withstood both the Rampage and the impact of the Idol's fall, wishing that someone could heal her without it also healing the Idol.

Nori saw the monstrous plant-lady fall to the ground and continued to run away from her, not caring that she was beginning to sweat from the warmth of the valley and its perpetual sunlight. She saw that Damien and Allie were able to catch up to both Nathan and the Idol now that it had fallen over, and the three of them arranged themselves in a line where Lydia's head was poking out of its side.

"Don't hold back! Finish it off, now!" She called out to them. They all called on their Personas, and Nori watched as the three of them combined the elements of electricity, fire, and earth to bring down an electric meteor on top of the Idol, making her let out a scream that made her shiver.

"I hope that was enough. I don't think I have it in me to use another spell." Damien said with his hands on his knees, feeling the last of his mental energy leaking out of him from the effects of Anima Shock.

"Me neither. Look!" Allie said, pointing to the Idol. The vines began to shrink and recede, turning into quartz dust and leaving behind the Nori in the white dress. To Nathan, however, the more important thing that caught his eye was a lightning-scorched Lydia, who lay unconscious in a pile of quartz dust near the Idol's human form.

"I'll go get her. Nathan, you take care of Lydia." Allie said, turning to run towards Nori, who saw that her other self was beginning to stand up from the huge pile of dust that her monstrous form had disintegrated into. When Allie was close enough, she said,

"Did you... did you beat it?"

"Yeah. But we need you to come over here - you're the only one that can truly make it go away." Nori sighed, beginning to follow Allie back.

"Okay... what am I supposed to say?"

"Don't worry. The right words will come to you." Nori saw Nathan's Persona come out and cast some kind of spell on Lydia, which stirred her from her motionless state. She turned her head and saw that her other self took notice of her, straightening out and shaking her head.

 **"I just... can't believe it. Why would you ever want to chain yourself down like that, Nori? Please, help me understand why that could ever be a good thing..."** Nori looked into her eyes, and for once she saw something about this world that was familiar: her own frustrations and fears about the people she loved, and a desire to stand on her own without losing the things she already held dear.

"You see our family and friends as chains, like all they've ever done is hold us back. That's not true. You're me, so... you should know all about the good things they've done for us - that they still _continue_ to do for us. Where would we have learned to love the stage without our parents as our first audience? How would we have appreciated the value of teamwork and the satisfaction of seeing all our hard work pay off without our friends taking the stage alongside us? They're hard to get along with sometimes, I know. Believe me, I know. But without them, I'm... nothing more than a lost wanderer in the wilderness. They keep me from losing sight of what really matters in life, and that's what I think you need to understand. We can achieve our dreams _and_ keep the people we love in our life too." She was surprised to see her other self break out in tears and rush to embrace her - she tensed up, but only for a second before relaxing and embracing her in return.

 **"We could never forget them! Never, ever! That's why..."** She let go of her, making eye contact once again.

 **"...that's why I want to be a part of you again. I want to make our dreams come true!"** Nori began to see blue flames consuming her other self, and stepped back to see what was about to happen. In the place of her Idol, a woman with long, flowing wavy brown hair appeared floating in the air. She was tall, wearing violet robes with crimson trim along the edges, with a long, thin staff in her hands that ended in a point shaped like a needle with a ring floating around it. On her forehead was a crown made of clear ice crystals, and she looked down at Nori with a smile on her face.

 _"I am Frigg, Queen of the Aesir. The both of us share not only the same soul, but the same destiny as well. I would be honored to fight alongside you for the future you wish to create."_ Her words were accompanied by a flurry of ice crystals that solidified in front of Nori to create a mirror, one that was colored purple and crimson like her robes. Nori took hold of it and watched as the mysterious woman disappeared into the mirror, with her face replacing hers in the mirror for a moment before she faded away.

"What just happened? Did... did I just become one of you all?" Nori asked, turning to the rest of QIB. Before anyone could answer, a breeze blew by and F.Z. rematerialized in front of Nori with her back to her. The translucent girl looked around and said,

"Did you beat the Idol? I don't see it anywhere, so I guess that means you did. Where's Nori?" She noticed that Lydia was brushing quartz dust off of her and looking at something behind her, prompting her to turn around and see Nori with a fancy-looking mirror in her hand.

"Oh! There you are. Looks like you got your Persona after all! Good."

Lydia let out a breath, managing to crack a smile at the mirror that Nori now held.

"Sort of. Do you want to save other people from their Idols? We could use all the help we can get." Nori looked at Lydia, whose hair and clothes were still coated in quartz dust and roughed up from the battle. She had clearly taken the most punishment out of everyone here, and yet still talked to her like she was asking for help on a volunteer project - which it technically was, Nori supposed.

"I... I don't know. I still haven't fully grasped what's going on here. Why is this happening? Why do you all have to risk your lives doing this?"

Damien put his hands behind his head and responded. Lydia nudged Nathan, murmuring something about healing, and Nathan called on his Persona again while Damien spoke.

"Why is it happening? Honestly... we don't really know _why_. The most we can gather is that some sinister force is trying to get people to accept unhealthy versions of themselves - for what reason, we don't know. We couldn't just let this happen when we've actually got a way to stop it, even if it means we're putting ourselves in danger to do it."

Allie adjusted her glasses and followed up on his words.

"I feel like we're getting closer to figuring it out, even if the clues have been meager. The Shadows are still getting stronger even though we've been mostly successful in fighting them, which means that something big is bound to happen sooner or later. We want to be ready for that whenever it comes, which means we need to continue growing stronger. We would definitely appreciate your help." Nori looked into the mystical mirror she now held, and saw Frigg's visage replace her own, her deep brown eyes looking into her hazel ones.

 _"Do not fear the darkness, nor what lies within it. Stand strong at the sides of your allies and there shall be no Shadow that you cannot overcome."_ Frigg's alto voice resonated through her mind, and suddenly she felt like she now had a conscience with a mind of its own, as if Frigg was an angel watching over her shoulder.

"To save others from their Idols... to do for others what you all did for me, even if it hurts." Nori said, looking down at the ground. F.Z. formed a dagger of quartz in her hand and tried to tear open a portal, but only slashed the air instead. She then noticed that the grass they were standing on was greener and more luscious than the grass about half a mile away from them, and figured that that was the border of the dungeon. The previous dungeons looked small in the distance, except for Damien's skyscraper - that was still very much ridiculously huge in comparison to the others.

"I can't open a portal here. We need to go over to where the grass is normal. Come on!" She began to run towards the border of the dungeon, with the others walking behind. Jacob came out of the sky and landed beside the rest of the group. Nori began to talk about what had happened to her leading up to the moment QIB arrived.

"I remember I was trying to find a parking spot in the rain when I looked at my rearview mirror because I thought I saw something... and then the next thing I know, I was inside the theater. That other me - my Idol, you called it - my Idol began to show me all those posters of me in all these movies I used to imagine myself as the star of, and then she took me to the set of that last movie, _The Gift of Release._ We talked for a while, and then I saw those two men come through the portal and stand behind the trees, watching us. Shortly after that, you all showed up."

"Uh, yeah, about your car... it's kinda wrecked." Nathan said.

"What?! How?"

"When you were in a trance, you probably slumped forward or something. Your foot was still on the pedal, which meant your car kept going until it jumped the curb and crashed into the fence. It looks like you disappeared before the impact, though, because you're not hurt at all." Allie explained. Nori looked up at the sky, taking in a deep breath and trying not to lose her composure.

"Okay. Okay, well... this portal F.Z. is going to open up - it's going to take us back to school, right? What am I supposed to tell everyone when I go back? You said I _disappeared_ from my car! How am I supposed to explain that? Everyone's going to be asking what happened to me!" That got everyone silent for a moment, a moment that dragged on for the next couple of minutes as they walked towards the border.

"That's a... really good question. Does anyone have... any ideas?" Jacob said, trying to get some kind of conversation going. Damien crossed his arms and said,

"We didn't actually see the wreck ourselves. Some random girl saw it, screamed, we heard it, and then we went outside and saw the car piled into the fence. So we can't say you left the car and then ran away somewhere, because she actually saw the whole thing play out - except for you actually disappearing, since she never mentioned that being part of it. Agh. I don't know that we can make something up for this one. By the time we get back, the cops are likely going to be all over the scene." Lydia sighed. She had had a feeling that eventually they would no longer be able to hide the supernatural stuff that had been going on in Quartz, and Nori's return to the real world would present questions that were going to have to have real answers sooner or later.

 _But why not later, rather than sooner? It's not like anyone has come up with an explanation for why people have been disappearing lately, or why they end up with Narcissus Syndrome. The only people that know the truth are all people I know. We'll eventually have to tell the world the whole truth, but I don't want to do that until we have no other choice._

"Don't tell them what really happened; they won't believe you. Have you ever heard anyone try to explain what's been causing the disappearances? No. I don't think anyone has any idea what's going on. Just... act like you don't know what caused it. Say that you were spirited away like the others, but that you got put back next to your car instead of ending up in the woods." She said to Nori. She looked at her mirror and said,

"Okay, but how do I explain _this?_ Do I just stuff it in my back pocket before I go and hide it from everyone? What do I tell someone if they ask what it is?" She held up her mirror, which was small enough to fit into the back pocket of her jeans. The reflective surface was larger than Allie's, but smaller than everyone else's mirrors.

"It's just a decorative mirror when you're in the real world. Actually..." Damien began,

"Actually, Lydia has proven to us that you technically _can_ summon your Persona in the real world, but the process of doing so is way too slow to actually be useful. It's also something you can't do on accident, either, so don't worry about Frigg popping out when you don't want her to. If anyone asks where you got it, tell them... it's a one-of-a-kind handmade craft you found on the Internet or something and the seller doesn't make 'em anymore." He continued. Nori's eyes moved to the mirror, and then to the other Persona-users.

"Alright. Well, I guess you all have been at this long enough that you've probably been asked that a lot already. Wait. Lydia, you told me to say that I got put back next to my car. Is that where I'm going to end up when I leave? What about the rest of you?"

"When you leave the valley through a portal, you end up in the same place you were when you entered it." F.Z. said from the front of the group. She turned her head back and said,

"But apparently your car's wrecked, so... I dunno how it's gonna work exactly if the space is real tight. You might want to stick your hand through and feel around a bit before jumping in it."

Once everyone had crossed over into the shorter, less green grass of the valley, F.Z. took her quartz dagger and tore open a portal. She gestured to Nori with it and said,

"Try it. Feel around through it and see if it's not all cramped." Nori stepped up to the portal, with its moving zebra stripes, and slowly stuck her hand in it. She immediately felt the sensation of raindrops falling all over it, and pulled it away from the portal.

"It's raining. My car doesn't have a sunroof or anything... it can't have been wrecked _that badly,_ can it?"

"Time still flows in the real world even while we're in here. It's a lot faster in here, for some reason. Electronic devices don't work here, so we can't tell exactly how much faster time flows inside the valley. As as that statement implies, we also can't provide any proof that this place even exists unless we take them here ourselves." Allie explained.

"Try sticking your head through. Maybe your car got towed or something and that's why it's no longer there. You'd be at least be able to see what's going on." F.Z. suggested. Nori closed her eyes for a moment, crossing her arms.

"I'm going to get all wet if I do that... but it looks like I don't really have a choice anyway."

"Wait! I can go back and get you my umbrella. You won't have to get wet. I left in my purse back in the library." Lydia said, approaching the portal. Jacob came closer to the portal as well, saying,

"Good idea! Speaking of the library... I wonder what time it is. We still had a while before school started, but who knows if we're already late to class or not. Nori, do you want us to come find you as soon as you leave? We can run real quick over to the parking lot."

"And I still have to go to school and act like all of this didn't happen. There were other people that go to our school that had to deal with this, too? How did they ever just go back to living their lives after going through something like this?" Nori thought aloud. F.Z. smirked at her.

"What? Why is that funny?" F.Z. leaned on the portal and said,

"Ask literally anyone that's standing around you right now. Every single one of them faced the same kind of thing you did." She looked around at each of the people that were present: Damien, with a grin on his face, standing next to Nathan who winked at her with a smile. Allie was to their right, looking between her and the compact mirror that her Persona came from. Jacob and Lydia both had their hands folded together, while F.Z. herself got off of the portal and knocked on it with her fist.

"And as for yours truly... I faced _my_ Idol, too. I wasn't as lucky as you were. I was one of the first ones pulled in here, so I didn't have anyone willing to stick their necks out for me. I died fighting to preserve the real me and ever since then, I've been stuck inside this place. I used to think that nothing was ever gonna get better for me, but then all these guys showed up and proved to me that even if I never make it out of here, I still have some kind of purpose. Maybe if I help you guys beat whatever's causing all this, I'll get to pass on for real." She wondered for a moment what that would feel like. Was there really some sort of afterlife waiting for her? Or did everything dissolve into nothingness the same way all her quartz creations turned to dust?

"I... I see. Well, then. If all of you can do it, being as different as you all are, then I think I can find it in myself to do it too. I've always wanted to change the world, and I have a feeling I'll be able to do just that by joining you all. But I still need to get out of here first. Could you move, F.Z.? Lydia said she'd let me borrow her umbrella."

"Sorry, yeah. Go get it." Lydia nodded and went through the portal.

"Do you want us to go out and meet you?" Damien asked.

"No, it's okay. I think I can handle it myself. The police would probably ask you all questions as well, and I don't want to get you all in any kind of trouble. Also, I don't want to make any of you late for class. Go ahead - I'll be fine!"

One by one, they each left the valley through the portal. Once it was just Nori and F.Z., the portal closed. F.Z. immediately opened up a new one, explaining how they were only temporary. She was wondering where Lydia was when she looked over at the other dungeons in the distance and realized that the entrance to the dungeon was nowhere near their current location.

"Damn, I forgot we're really far away from the entrance. I'll be right back." Nori watched F.Z. turn into the wind and could see her trajectory by the grass that was being blown over. In the distance, she could see a tiny figure appear next to another tiny figure. After the figure that was F.Z. disappeared again, she saw the wind blow across the grass until she reformed in front of her, handing her the umbrella.

"Here you go. I actually didn't know whether or not items would come along with me, but I guess they do. Good luck out there. I'll see you later, alright?" Nori took the umbrella and opened it, noticing that the sunlight had dimmed for a moment. She looked up and saw that a huge cloud had blocked the sun. F.Z. took notice of the same thing, seeing that the skies were now mostly cloudy instead of partly cloudy, as they'd been before.

"I swear something bad is gonna happen when it starts _raining_ here. The weather here only changes after someone faces their Idol."

"I guess I'll have to bring an umbrella for that, too. Thank you for doing so much for me, F.Z. I wish I knew your name. It feels strange to have to call you by your initials." F.Z. rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Don't remind me. I swear, that will be the absolute _last_ thing about myself I'm gonna learn, you just watch. Go on, get outta here before the portal closes again."

"Okay. See you later, then." Nori said. She took a deep breath, and then stepped through the portal, leaving F.Z. alone yet again. She crossed her arms and let herself fall on her back, where she stared up at the big white cloud that was blocking the sun.

"Rain. Why does that make me so nervous? Was I afraid of thunderstorms or something? There's one thing I'd be okay with leaving forgotten. It's such a stupid thing to be afraid of."

* * *

 **Original upload date: July 15, 2016**

 **A/N: Got into a bit of a writing slump lately due to being distracted by other things, and I needed to figure out some more details about this story's plot before I moved any farther forward.**

 **I'm gonna go ahead and say that QIB will acquire exactly _one_ new member between here and the shift to the next big arc of the story. Once that takes place, the calendar is going to go by a lot faster than it's been doing so far - but the overall pace of the story will likely remain the same. Looking forward to your reviews and comments, so go ahead and drop one if you've got the time. I really appreciate the feedback.**


	44. Chapters 38-40 - Alternate Timeline

**A/N: This chapter retells the previous three chapters of the story from a timeline where the Persona-users among the Quartz Idol Busters and Sycophanta have switched roles. As such, it is very much not canon to the rest of this story.**

* * *

 **October 15, 2015 - Thursday, Early Morning, Stormy - Inverse Timeline**

"Eight. That means the source of the lightning is a mile away from us. I hate storms. Rain I'm okay with. Thunder and lightning... nuh uh." Morgan said to Lynne. The door opened and a guy wearing a dark red windbreaker jacket stepped in, taking notice of Morgan's table and going up to her to buy some tickets to the dance.

"What's so scary about 'em? Thunder literally can't even hurt you, and you've gotta either stand under a tree or be unlucky as hell to get hit by lightning." Corbin quipped. Morgan ignored his words as she took the guy's money. From where he stood beside Morgan, Rory crossed his arms and said,

"So, it's been longer than two weeks already. I sure hope the you-know-what is gonna happen soon... I've had my hotel room booked in Houston for FantasyFlare for weeks now, you know. I don't wanna miss a minute of the convention." He was the only one among their group that had made plans to go, Lynne recalled - Corbin didn't like the atmosphere, Gina wasn't even aware that it was going on, and she herself found the prospect of being in Houston surrounded by huge crowds that she didn't share any interests with totally unappealing. Valerie had scoffed at the idea, saying that there would be no way she'd be able to afford that kind of trip on her job's salary.

"Thanks for the tickets. Now I just gotta find my girlfriend..." The guy in front of Morgan's table said before walking down the hallway.

"Thanks for buying your tickets!" Both Gina and Morgan said to him in unison as he walked away. Morgan looked over across the hall to see Gina giggling.

"Timed it _on point."_ She said to Morgan, pointing at her and winking, the light sparkling off of her thin, blue-framed glasses as she tilted her head slightly. Morgan broke out into laughter, making everyone else smile.

 _She's the daughter of the senior calculus teacher, Mrs. Alvarez. That explains her number one standing in the senior class for math. She's also the only one with a quick enough wit to outpace Corbin's, which is much appreciated when he starts running his mouth a little too much. It also explains where her Persona's capabilities originate: not only is she capable of fighting alongside us, but she can also use her Persona to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of our foes. She picked up on the whole thing really quickly, and gave me several different outfits to enchant in the Velvet Room soon after she learned about it._

Soon afterwards, another thunderclap rumbled the air outside - and it was promptly followed by a scream.

"Wait, that came from outside!" Rory said, and immediately went to check the door. Before he could get there, the door opened and a girl with wavy brown hair stepped inside.

"Call the police! Nori just crashed her car into the fence!"

"I'll go get Mr. Marshall to call them. You guys go see if she's okay!" Morgan said, getting up from her chair and running towards Mr. Marshall's classroom.

Other students that were coming in began to all gather underneath the roof covering the sidewalk leading up to the east entrance. Lynne took her umbrella and let Gina get under it, while Rory paired up with Corbin. They all ran out to the car, but they quickly noticed there was no one inside.

"Did she just... disappear?!" Rory shouted over the pouring rain.

"No way. You don't think..." Gina trailed off. Corbin pointed at Nori's things that she had left in the passenger seat and said,

"Oh, because people just _vanish_ from their cars all the time, right? I guess it really _does_ work on any mirror!"

"We need to get moving. To the library, now!" Lynne shouted as another clap of thunder rumbled through the air. The group pushed their way past the group of students that had been gathering outside, and as they went through the door, Mr. Marshall stopped them and said,

"Wait! Did you see what happened to Noreen?"

"No. We didn't see the crash - that girl over there did. Sorry, but we've got to go." Lynne gestured to the girl with the wavy hair that was standing by the door. She then turned to Morgan and said,

"Morgan! We'll be at the library!"

"Okay! Good luck!" Morgan said to them before Lynne took the rest of the group towards the library.

"You gotta call Valerie." Corbin said to Lynne as they made their way over there. Lynne already had her phone in her hand by the time he finished speaking.

"Let's hope she's already awake." She said, initiating the call. After a few rings, she was treated to a loud groan and Valerie saying,

"There's only one reason you would _call me_ this early in the morning instead of texting me. Has it happened?"

"Yes! We're heading there right now." Lynne responded. Valerie sighed.

"I swear this is almost as inconvenient as work calling me out of nowhere. Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can. Good thing the mirror can reappear back into my hand if I lose it, 'cause otherwise we'd be screwed."

"Wait, what?" Lynne said. Before she could ask further, Valerie hung up. She put her phone down and got a questioning look from Rory.

"What'd she say? Is she coming?"

"Yes, but... she said her mirror was capable of reappearing in her hand if she lost it. I thought we could only do that inside the valley. Does that mean we can summon our Personas outside of it as well?"

"That doesn't matter right now! Come on, we need to hurry!" Corbin urged, beginning to break into a run towards the library. The rest of the group followed him inside and split up by restrooms to enter the valley using the mirrors inside.

"Come on! The Tide's already in here!" F.Z. said, wearing a purple t-shirt that had a big diamond with a crack splitting it in half on the front, a tight-fitting pair of denim shorts, and black tennis shoes with pink laces. She held a quartz basket full of the group's items in her hands. Lynne took in a deep breath to calm herself, knowing that their enemies - the Tide of Adulation - would jump at the opportunity sooner than them due to their connection with the valley informing them the second someone got abducted.

"Tell me who you saw." Lynne said.

"I saw two girls this time - one was this large chick in blue jeans that ran into the movie theater, and the other one was some green-eyed brunette shouting about how she was going to be the best dancer in the world as she sprinted into that arena over there. I didn't get much of a chance to explore the both of them, but the Shadows inside them are pretty different."

"A movie theater versus what looks like a big performance arena. As big as it is, the arena would be pretty straightforward. We don't know who Nori is, and since Morgan wasn't taken in here, we don't have that advantage here." Gina said, taking the items from the basket and distributing them amongst the group. Valerie looked over at Lynne and impatiently waved her hand in the direction of where she'd seen her disappear into the Velvet Room before.

"None of my enchanted clothes have been washed lately. Go get me the outfit I gave to you to put inside the Wardrobe!"

"F.Z., go ahead and put up our changing rooms." Rory said. F.Z. did as he asked as Lynne popped into the Velvet Room to retrieve Valerie's clothing.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room. You... seem to be in a hurry." Victor remarked as Lynne grabbed Valerie's bright red sundress off of the rack.

"Yes, I am. We're about to save another person from their Idol." She said, leaning down to grab the pair of red-colored flats that Valerie had insisted be part of the outfit as well.

"Oh! Will you be needing any of your Personas from the Compendium?" He asked. That gave Lynne pause, as she quickly searched herself for the Personas she currently possessed.

 _Rosalia. Undine. Dominion. Black Frost. Orthrus. Samael. Those are all the ones I can hold. I need Undine for healing - Gina's Persona having healing abilities finally means I'm not stuck doing it all the time, but two healers is still better than one... Dominion for wind and light, Black Frost for fire and ice, Orthrus for earth, physical, and Marakukaja, Samael for debuffs and darkness, and Rosalia's always with me. No, this should be enough._

"No. I have everything I need. Thanks for asking. Wish us luck; hopefully we won't need it." Victor smiled at her words, bowing before her.

"You have already shown me that chance will not dissuade you from doing what you set out to do. I believe your spirit will suffice for the trial ahead."

"Thanks. See you later." Lynne said, leaving the Velvet Room. She gave Valerie her clothes and everyone quickly changed into their enchanted clothing. F.Z. disintegrated the quartz she used to make the changing rooms.

"I agree with Gina. The theater might be smaller, but... arenas are designed to be easy to access for people coming in to see a show. Theaters have a lot of different corridors and rooms we'd have to check." Rory said, fixing his patterned button-up shirt. Valerie smoothed out her dress and then crossed her arms, her mirror in hand.

"Yeah, and I bet we'd have to fight a hundred Shadows in the center of that arena before we could reach the Idol. The Idol in the theater, on the other hand, is only gonna be in _one_ of those theaters, which is way smaller. That means a lot less fighting for us. We can't afford to _waste time,_ remember?"

"We can plow through whatever we face. We're the Quartz Iconoclasts, remember? We've been training like mad for this. It doesn't matter which one you pick, Lynne - just pick something already!" Corbin said, looking to the group's leader for a decision.

"What he said." F.Z. said. Lynne looked between the two dungeons. Valerie had a point about fighting in large, open spaces - there was certainly the possibility that Shadows could just swarm and surround them. The theater, however, would probably require some kind of clue to figure out where to go in order to not waste any time. They had the strength to fight, certainly, but to her, less fighting was indeed better.

"We're going to the theater. I'm confident we can figure out how to proceed quickly enough. Come on, let's go!" The Quartz Iconoclasts ran towards the theater as a figure hovering in the sky looked down upon them. It smirked from a colorful, painted throne within a clear bubble, and spoke words that both he and his allies could hear.

"My friends, it would seem the cavalry has arrived. Allie, Damien, they're headed your way right now. You'll find that there's an energy source within the theater you're in right now - configure it into a portal and it will take you to where Nori is. I'll go ahead and scan our enemies for you in the meantime..."

* * *

"So I'm gonna bet that those two are waiting to spring a trap on us when we go through. Think I'll volunteer to go through first, since my Persona's resistant to earth and can take some punishment." Corbin said, looking up at the theater screen. Gilgamesh could easily leap into it with him in his arms. Gina retrieved a cube with mirrors for faces and activated it, sending the panels swirling around him for a moment before they dissolved to create an invisible shield around him.

"That was a Magic Mirror I just used on you. It should reflect the first magic spell used on you back at the user." She explained.

"Cool. Wait a little bit before you catch up with me. Here I go!" He looked into his mirror and called on Gilgamesh, who appeared behind him, wrapped his arms around him, and then leaped into the theater screen, landing on the grass several yards away from Nori. The moment he turned his head to get his bearings, a flame exploded on top of him - a flame that immediately got redirected towards one of the trees thanks to the Magic Mirror. It impacted a suit-wearing young man, who flinched slightly at his attack being thrown back at him.

"I should've known that was going to happen. Well, now I know what an Agidyne to the face feels like. Thanks for volunteering me, Allie." He and a young woman wearing brightly-colored rave clothing stepped out from their hiding places behind the trees. The rest of the Iconoclasts came through the portal as soon as their opponents revealed themselves; as soon as they did, Allie took her compact mirror off of the violet-colored belt she was wearing and looked into it.

"You know you're hardier than I am, Damien." Red flames consumed her mirror and brought forth her Persona, who was dressed similarly to her with the exception of the snakes she had for hair, which were black and burning with a bright red color behind them. Allie brought her index finger in front of her mouth, making a shushing gesture at the Iconoclasts. F.Z. noticed this and immediately disappeared into the wind, intending to go and stall for time with Nori. Allie's Persona mimicked the gesture momentarily before her eyes glowed with a gray light, one that radiated outwards and immediately petrified everyone except for Lynne, who stood at the back of their formation.

"Aw, almost! Well, it's better this way anyway. Wait. Where's the little ghost?" She turned her head to see that F.Z. was trying to talk to Nori. She glanced at Damien as if she intended to say something, but he merely waved her off and said,

"Go. I can take her one-on-one." Lynne searched through her pockets and found the one item she was hoping she wouldn't have to use this early on - a metal can with a picture of a smiling sun on it. She shook the can and then popped the tab before throwing it above everyone that was petrified, where the can exploded and showered them all with a clear, fizzy substance. In a matter of seconds, they all broke free from their petrification, making Damien sigh and look towards the sky.

"Amrita Soda, huh? So much for one-on-one. No matter! Ra, bring forth the might of the sun to bear upon our foes! Maragidyne!" His Persona, a humanoid birdman wearing a bright white cape and a crown that shined with yellow light, along with a golden suit of armor that glistened in the perpetual sunlight of the valley, stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers. Flames exploded from within each of the Crimson Iconoclasts, and Rory, being weak to fire, crumpled to the ground from the attack. Damien smirked and said in his mind,

"Jacob, your scanning is impeccable."

"Let me know if you need me to project myself down there. If you need a power boost or a distraction, I can provide them." Jacob responded over their telepathic connection. Damien nodded in acknowledgment, and laughed as he commanded Ra once more.

"Again! Let them feel your fury!" Ra's eyes flashed momentarily as he opened his palm, causing another set of flames to ignite on them all. Rory rolled over on the ground, motionless, whereas Gina and Corbin were bent over in pain, still burning from the onslaught. Valerie rolled her eyes and retrieved a tube from the pocket in her dress.

"Fire doesn't bother me all that much. Rory, get up!" She unscrewed the top of the tube and flung it at Rory, causing the balm within it to land all over him. He opened his eyes as the balm was absorbed into his body, allowing him to get up completely refreshed.

"Wow, that hurt. Okay... I've _had it_ with you making me eat dirt every time we face off! Yama! Let's return the favor." Rory's mirror was taken by blue flames and the judge of the dead appeared before him.

"Mudoon." His eyes flashed as he uttered the name of the attack. Yama slammed his weapon into the ground and caused a sigil to form underneath Damien - one that was much larger than the Mudo attacks he had seen before from Rory. He attempted to dive away from the rapidly completing sigil, but landed on its border.

"Unacceptable!" A voice shouted as the form of a well-dressed young man briefly appeared at the center of the sigil, drawing in the blast of darkness towards himself and nullifying it. He disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, and Damien got up off of the ground unharmed.

"I won't be able to do that again for a while, Damien! Try not to let him catch you off guard again, okay?" Jacob said over their telepathic connection.

"Who was _that?"_ Rory said, looking towards the sky and noticing a momentary flash before he noticed the figure hovering far above them all. He pointed to it, drawing everyone's attention to where the young man that had blocked the attack had gone.

"That must be... he was the other one that got abducted with me!" Gina said.

"Yes, thanks for the obvious observation. By allowing him to accept his better self, you've given us an ally unlike any other! Allie!" In the background, Allie had been trying to land a blow on F.Z., but every attack was easily evaded by the girl who could turn into the wind on a whim. Nori was curled up in a ball against the barrier, refusing to watch what was going on.

"She is _impossible_ to hit!" She shouted as F.Z. materialized beside her.

"You got that right, bitch!" Allie growled and raised her mirror, causing F.Z. to disappear into the winds once more.

"Forget about her, then! Come on and help me out - the Iconobrats have gotten stronger than I expected since we last saw them." Damien said, keeping his eyes on his enemies.

"Gina, we need healing. You'll have to hold off on the analysis for now." Lynne said, still feeling the flames licking at her skin. A high-pitched laugh echoed in her mind as her Persona happily consumed the fire, not only protecting her from damage but outright invigorating her instead.

 _"Hee-hoooo! More, more! I love this!"_ Black Frost said.

"Okay! Aura, we need your help! Mediarama!" She looked into her mirror, which was shaped like a teardrop with a light green border that had a rose-colored arch running across the narrower end of the mirror, and summoned her Persona. Aura was clad in clothes that resembled the mirror that contained her, with her robes the same color as the border and a rose-colored shawl that floated behind her head, forming an arch from shoulder to shoulder. Her blonde hair was tied up in a bun and she held a golden telescope in her right hand.

 _"We will not be so easily silenced."_ She spoke in a soft yet determined soprano voice before healing the party. Lynne let out a sigh of relief as the flames that Ra's attacks tended to leave behind went out. Rory would have to put his guard up and hold his ground in order to not grant Damien a second action.

"I really feel like punching you in the face right now. Gilgamesh! Help me out with that, would you?" Corbin said, calling on his Persona from a burst of blue flames. The imposing warrior king stood in front of him with a stern look on his face. He planted a fist into the ground, sending a wave of energy that went back into Corbin, granting him immense physical strength.

"Thing is, I want it to hurt as much as possible before I hit you. So a Power Charge it is, for now." He said, smirking at Damien, who only response was to look over at Allie and tilt his head toward the Iconoclasts. Allie nodded, and called on her Persona. She stared down Gina, who quickly glanced at Jacob hovering in the air far above them and sneered at him.

"They know our weaknesses..." She muttered before Medusa brought down several huge boulders on top of them all. In an instant, she dived to the side, the boulder meant for her barely missing her. The others all took the blows from the Mamagnadyne attack, with Rory shrugging it off due to his resistance to earth. Allie snapped her fingers at not being able to exploit the initiative. In her mind's ear, Jacob spoke to her regarding the Persona that Lynne had changed to as soon as she went through the portal.

"She has Black Frost at the forefront of her mind. It absorbs ice and fire, reflects darkness, and has no weaknesses - quite a formidable Persona. While it is up, Damien's fire abilities will heal her. If she switches, I'll keep you posted."

"Understood." She responded.

"Masukunda!" Lynne declared her next attack, bringing forth Black Frost. He whirled around in midair before infusing both Allie and Damien with agility-sapping green energy. She looked over at Rory and said,

"Go! It's all you, Rory!"

"Thanks! Yama, you know what to do!" Yama planted his weapon in the ground once again. Damien braced himself for another dark sigil forming underneath him, but was surprised when the grass underneath him remained as green as ever. He looked over and saw that Allie was attempting to get out of the attack's radius, but her reduced speed left her unable to escape it in time. Darkness burst forth from the completed sigil and consumed Allie, making her drop to the ground like a rock.

"If you had dodged the last one, I would've been able to save her from _that one!"_ Jacob shouted in his mind. Damien searched his pockets for the revival item that had been distributed to him before he had been paired off with Allie. Corbin noticed this and immediately summoned Gilgamesh, the surge in physical strength still flowing through both of them.

"Not a chance, asshole! Vile Assault, go!" Gilgamesh leaped from the ground and rushed at Damien, intending to pound him with a Power Charged fist. He cursed Lynne and her seemingly endless supply of new tricks and tactics before Gilgamesh smashed him in the face, sending him flying backwards until he hit the barrier separating the two Noris. F.Z. watched as Damien fell to the ground, struggling to get up.

"Guys, we need to finish him, now!" Corbin called to his allies, running forward to get closer to him. Between the five of them, Gina quickly assessed that an attack combining fire, ice, wind, and earth could be applied to Yama's physical prowess.

"Rory! You need to lead the Fusion Spell! We'll all place our elemental spells on Yama's blade! Lynne, use ice! Valerie, fire!" She called out to everyone. From high above, Jacob watched the end of the battle, powerless to stop what was about to happen.

Rory called on his Persona, who held up his huge sword and allowed the rest of the Iconoclasts' Personas - Black Frost, Gilgamesh, Midas, and Aura - to send their elemental energies into it, making it shine with the colors of the four elements. Once the attack was ready, Rory said the following words:

"This is going to hurt you a lot more than it's going to hurt me. Now, Yama! Unleash our combined attack - the Fusion Spell Chaos Erosion!" Yama leapt into the air, the energies of the elements coursing through his blade. Damien looked upwards and desperately tried to get out of the way before his enemy landed the blow, but to no avail. Yama's blade cracked the ground underneath him as it put him completely out of commission. Nori's Idol shook her head in disapproval as she watched the people that were supposed to be supporting her go down so easily. F.Z. materialized next to the real Nori, trying to rouse her out of her scared state.

 **"What a disappointment, these Tide of Adulation people. They couldn't even last more than a couple of rounds! Well, it doesn't matter. Other me, I _know_ you can hear me. You can sit there and cry about it as much as you want, but sooner or later you _will_ have to give me an answer."** The Idol looked up to see that the people that had defeated them were now approaching her other self, who had decided to uncurl herself from against the wall and look up at them.

"I just... I just want this all to go away. I can't deal with this, I can't. I just can't." Nori mumbled, her voice still shaky and her eyes red from crying. F.Z. sat down next to her and began to speak.

"Hey, um... I was listening to all that stuff the other you was saying. I know this place is really crazy, but we've all been through the same kind of thing you're going through right now." Nori looked over at her, noticing how her body faded in and out as she breathed, and then looked up at the people that had wielded such incredible power to defeat the pair that said they were her bodyguards.

"I thought those two were supposed to be protecting me! How can I trust any of you? What are you planning to do to me?" She asked them. Lynne stepped forward and crouched down to meet Nori's hazel eyes.

"I'm Lynne Faire, and these are all my friends. We go to school together, Nori. I saw what looked like a script that had fallen out of your bag in your car - you must be part of our theater club, right? I remember seeing you in that musical last year; you're a really talented singer on top of being such a good actress. Those people that said they were trying to protect you were only trying to make sure you gave in to your Idol. You don't need to be afraid of losing the bonds you have with the people you love! You can live your own life and still enjoy their company. You don't need what that other you is offering."

 **"Oh, please! How could you possibly know what's best for her? She doesn't _need_ anyone else's ideas of what will make her happy! She knows herself better than you or anyone else!" ** The Idol retorted from across the barrier. This prompted Nori to look down at the grass, pondering the words that had just been said to her, said about her. She put her hands against the barrier and tried to stand up, finding that Lynne was also standing up and offering her her hand. She took her hand and stood up, turning around to face her idealized self. She put her hands on the barrier and said:

"You're right about that. You're right that I know what I want. You look like me, you talk like me, you even act like me. You know the kind of person I want to become, and it sounds like I'd be really happy if I went with you... but there's just something _wrong_ about it that I can't ignore. Why does becoming who I want to be have to involve all of this... whatever this is, this other world and all of this crazy stuff? You're right about another thing, too - I determine my own fate, and I have the right to choose who I want to become. But that's where the similarities end. You want to take me into the wilderness away from everything I know and understand, but that's too much! Not __everything__ on this side of the fence is terrible! I want to be able to experience the _best_ of both worlds, and with you I can't do that. So no. My answer to you... is no." She took her hands off of the barrier, and took a step back.

Her Idol responded by dropping her arms to her sides and her head towards the ground. Her aura began to turn black, her body flashing with the distinctive moving zebra stripes the Iconoclasts had come to expect by now. She said in a low voice:

 ** **"Is that so? You'd rather keep letting other people decide for you. You'd rather be played with like a doll in a world made of plastic than embrace the freedom you deserve. I see I can't reason with you anymore, then. In that case..."**** Nori began to back away, aided by Rory, who took her by the hand.

"Come on! I'll protect you. Guys, I'm going to take her as far away from here as I can. You all can handle the Idol without me - I believe in you!" He said to them as they stopped at a safe distance from the Idol's rapidly growing quartz cocoon.

"Let's put this stupid thing out of its misery so Nori can have some peace of mind already." Valerie said, readying her mirror.

Nori briefly looked back towards the Iconoclasts as the quartz cocoon exploded, revealing the Idol's monstrous form: a humanoid plant monstrosity as tall as the large trees she stood besides with colored flowers in her hair. She immediately looked away and made eye contact with Rory, who had also decided to look back at the Idol.

"It'll be alright. They won't lose." He said, smiling a wide smile.

* * *

"What just happened? Did... did I just become one of you all?" Nori asked, turning to the rest of the Quartz Iconoclasts. Before anyone could answer, a breeze blew by and F.Z. rematerialized in front of Nori with her back to her. The translucent girl looked around and said,

"Looks like you beat the Idol. Good! Where's Nori?" She noticed that Lynne was brushing quartz dust off of her and pointing to something behind her, prompting her to turn around and see Nori with a fancy-looking mirror in her hand.

"Oh! There you are. Guess you got your Persona after all."

Lynne stood up from the pile of quartz dust that she had been underneath when the Idol collapsed. She came up to Nori and said,

"Technically, yes. That said... we won't force you to join us. I think you saw well enough how dangerous it can be, but we all have decided it's worth the risk if we're able to save people from their Idols." Nori saw how Lynne was roughed up from being the victim of several direct assaults from the Idol, as well as being forced to order her friends to attack her in order to defeat it when it took her inside itself.

"But why do you have to put yourselves in this kind of danger? What is really going on with this place?" She asked. Valerie crossed her arms and decided to answer her questions.

"Your guess is probably as good as ours. You noticed how people disappearing into the woods and coming back with Narcissus Syndrome stopped for a while when school started? That's because we were the ones who were taken. Lynne helped save us. I'm speaking for myself here, but my life sucked really, really badly before I got wrapped up in all this. It still sucks, but at least now I have something where I can actually make a difference and feel _good_ about myself for once. That makes it worth the risk of dying."

Corbin slid up closer to her and said,

"It's also pretty damn cool to be able to summon a Persona. But uh, yeah, the Shadows here have only gotten stronger even though we keep beating the crap out of them, so... the stronger we are as a group, the better off we'll be in the long run." Nori looked into the mystical mirror she now held and saw Frigg's visage replace her own, her deep brown eyes looking into her hazel ones.

 _"The darkness and that which lies within it are not to be feared. The light that radiates from true companionship can overcome even the darkest Shadow."_ Frigg's alto voice resonated through her mind, making her feel like she was an angel watching over her shoulder, acting as her conscience.

"Making a difference in other people's lives by saving them from their Idols... basically what you all just did for me, even if it hurts." Nori said, looking down at the ground. F.Z. attempted to open a portal nearby, but failed to do so due to not being outside of the borders of the dungeon. She saw the normal green grass of the valley about half a mile from where they were standing, and began to run in that direction.

"Guys, I can't open a portal until we leave the dungeon. Come on!"

The rest of the group talked to Nori about what they would have to do once she returned to the real world. Once it was clear that she would tell people that she was almost another victim of whatever was causing Narcissus Syndrome, F.Z. opened a portal and let the Quartz Iconoclasts through it. Lynne had volunteered to let Nori borrow her umbrella, and so was expected to return soon. In the meantime, however, it was just Nori and F.Z. standing beside a newly opened portal.

"F.Z... have you been able to find out what that stands for yet?" Nori asked her.

"Nope. I've been able to remember where I'm from, what my middle school life was like, what my dad was like, that I like action movies and nice clothes, that I'm an only child, and that I'd be a freshman in high school if I was still alive, but... I still don't know about my mom, where _exactly_ I live in Quartz, what I was doing before I got pulled in here, what my Idol was like before it went crazy and killed me, and of course, my full name. I only seem to remember new things after people get pulled in here, so I'm probably going to rediscover something about myself pretty soon." She looked over to the other dungeons in the distance and saw that Lynne was all the way over there.

"Shit. Forgot we're not even close to the entrance. Be right back." She disappeared into the wind, allowing Nori to follow her path along the moving grass as she left and returned with Lynne's umbrella.

"Sweet. I didn't know if this thing would travel along with me like my clothes do. Well, here you go. Good luck out there. I'll see you later, alright?" Nori took the umbrella and opened it, noticing that the sunlight had dimmed for a moment. She looked up and saw that a huge cloud had blocked the sun. F.Z. took notice of it as well, seeing that for the first time in the valley's history, the sky was more clouds than blue sky.

"Every time someone faces their Idol, more clouds appear. I have a feeling it's going to rain eventually, and when that happens, it's gonna be bad."

"I guess I'll have to bring an umbrella for that, too. Thank you for doing so much for me, F.Z. I hope you find out what your name is soon. It feels strange to have to call you by your initials. You just don't seem like the type of person to go by those alone." F.Z. rolled her eyes and sighed.

"You got that right. Go on, get outta here before the portal closes again."

"Okay. See you later, then." Nori said. She took a deep breath, and then stepped through the portal, leaving F.Z. alone yet again. She made an umbrella out of quartz and pointed it towards the big white cloud that was blocking the sun.

"Rain. The idea makes me nervous and I don't know why. Don't tell me I used to be afraid of thunderstorms. I don't need to remember something like that. It's such a stupid thing to be afraid of."

* * *

 **Original upload date: July 21, 2016**

 **A/N: Well, I managed to think of another idea for a bonus chapter, so here it is. The parts I left out would've played out more-or-less the same way they did in the canon timeline, just with the Iconoclasts in place of QIB. Didn't want to make this chapter _too long._ Also, to satisfy a bit of your curiosity, the other pair was Lydia and Nathan going to Dawn Windsor's Idol's Nest. Lydia is still a new student in this timeline, but she met up with her Idol early on and eventually sought out the other people afflicted with Narcissus Syndrome to form the Tide of Adulation. What was that Idol like, you ask? Well, I can't answer _all_ those questions, can I? I have to keep at least a _few_ things unspoiled, lol.**

 **omegadramon2: Yes, I'm aware of TMS#FE. I haven't played it (no Wii U), but I'd say it has more in common with Persona 4: Dancing All Night than it does with this story. Also, while I appreciate you sounding off, I don't think I caught your opinion about my story - unless comparing it to TMS#FE was meant to be a compliment or detraction, in which case I can't tell which one it is.**


	45. Chapter 41

**October 16, 2015 - Friday, Early Morning - Cloudy - Day 1 of FantasyFlare**

"So, what exactly are you gonna _do_ at the convention? You're not really that much into TV shows or fantasy or sci-fi books." Gerald asked his sister as they were on their way to school.

"I wasn't until I met Damien and Allie. They've introduced me to a couple of their favorite shows and I've been watching them on Zulu. I've been able to catch up with a few of them, so I'll actually be able to recognize some of the cosplayers at the convention. I went on the website for it and there's going to be a lot to do - there's all sorts of events and panels about things, there's going to be an arcade open throughout the day, people are going to be selling stuff, and there's also going to be a rave both tonight and tomorrow night. I think it's gonna be really exciting." Lydia responded. Gerald crossed his arms and sighed.

"You _really_ should've invited me - and before you say anything, no, I'm not still mad at you. It's not like that's the only convention ever. It's just that now I expect you to bring me back a souvenir. Maybe something _Sinister_ -related... something cool like that. I dunno, I think I can trust you to not pick something totally lame. It doesn't have to be expensive, it just has to be cool. Alright?"

"Alright. I think that's fair. I'm sure I'll be able to find something."

 **Friday, Lunchtime - Cloudy**

"We're starting to look like some kind of clique," Damien noted as there were now seven people sitting at their table in the cafeteria. They now had essentially claimed that particular spot for their own, as nearby people were beginning to realize that that was _their spot._

"It's not untrue, though I don't like thinking of ourselves as a _clique._ That word makes us sound like a pretentious group of snobs." Allie said, taking a drink of her soda.

"Has anyone ever asked why you've decided to sit here instead of with the people you sat with before?" Nori asked. Across the cafeteria were the group of people that she had previously eaten lunch with, who had asked her all sorts of questions about her car wreck the other day. She had only been able to tell them what she had been instructed to say, and thankfully it had seemed to satisfy their questions.

"Yeah, uh, I mean I used to sit with some of the football team before, except I quit and you guys are better company anyway. They didn't really ask me too much, probably 'cause nothing really crazy happened to me." Nathan said.

"Um... well, I used to sit with Lana and her friends back when we were together. I think it's... better that I'm with you all now." Jacob said, sighing. Before he met Lana, he had sat together with other freshmen and was just sort of there - neither contributing much nor being the odd man out. It was hard for him not to look in the direction of that old spot towards the middle where a couple of the trash cans were, which was where Lana's group usually sat.

"I've always pretty much sat wherever I felt like. Sometimes with friends, sometimes by myself so I could people watch. I don't think I've ever sat in the exact same spot for longer than a week. I like rotating through different perspectives." Morgan said, happily munching on some potato chips.

"Damien and Allie were the first two people I met when I came here. I've never sat with anyone else. I only just started coming here this year." Lydia said. Nori turned her attention to her and said,

"Oh, that's right, you moved here from Crystal Rapids, right? I think my second cousin went on a rafting trip with his girlfriend there last year. They really enjoyed it. I heard you can actually see all the stars at night over there. Is that true?"

"Yeah. The tourists are always surprised to see so many. I grew up with it, so _not_ seeing the sky lit up at night is strange to me. How's your car doing? Is it going to take real long to get it fixed?"

"Well... I'm definitely going to be without my car for a while. Fixing it is going to take a while. I was worried about what my parents would say, but in the words of my dad, 'this is why I got you a used car, just in case something like this ever happened.'" Nori sighed, remembering the reactions of her family members to the incident.

"It feels wrong to have to hide the truth of what happened from my family. From other people at school, okay, I already know what it's like to have to deflect rumors and nip the speculation in the bud before it sprouts up like weeds everywhere. But what I saw in there... I don't know how anyone could believe it was real unless they saw it for themselves."

"Um, actually..." Morgan spoke up, raising her index finger looking over at Damien. Nori looked over at her, surprised.

"Huh?"

"Not to be a wet blanket or anything, but I wouldn't say _anyone._ Damien believed it was real before he actually went in there, and so did I. I can't speak for him, but I know I'm not exactly the average person when it comes to stuff like this - I figured that you guys couldn't have been crazy, so you were either really good liars or actually telling the truth. Either way, I was going to get down to the bottom of it, so I started talking to Lydia about it, one thing led to another, and now here I am!" Morgan said. Damien put his hands behind his head and spoke to Nori.

"Well, I didn't think anything serious of it either, at first. Allie was the only one that I knew that considered the idea that the disappearances and Narcissus Syndrome were being caused by people looking into mirrors and actually did something to try and prove it. Lydia happened to sit next to us on the first day of school and that's how she got involved with Allie's disappearance into the valley. I didn't see it firsthand until a week after that, but once Allie came out of that restroom after being in there for over half an hour holding a mirror I'd never seen before, yeah - you bet I was convinced it was real then. With the exception of my sister Lin, no one else in my family knows about it. I personally don't feel the same way you do about keeping this under wraps, Nori, but think of it this way: we're doing this to protect the people we love, to make sure things are kept under control as much as possible." Nori considered his words in silence. Lydia folded her hands together on the table and sat up straight.

"That's the reason why I've never told my younger brother about it. I love him, I really do, but he couldn't keep a secret like that. He'd be like Morgan and jump at the opportunity to become one of us, but he'd try to do whatever he could in order to goad the valley into taking him once he learned how it worked. He'd probably try and get his friends into it, and then they'd tell other people, and... I don't want to make this even harder to deal with. I just want him to live a completely normal life. He actually goes here, but he's in the other lunch shift, so we've never eaten together."

"All of my siblings are younger than me. The next oldest is Desiree, and she's only in seventh grade this year. My family's been wondering what is really causing the disappearances, and now that I know the truth... it's going to burn inside me to not be able to tell them." Nori said, picking up her cup of water and drinking from it. Jacob looked over at her and said,

"Now that I think about it, you're the only one besides Lydia among us to have younger brothers or sisters. Allie and I are only children, all of Damien's sisters except Lin are out of the house, all of Nathan's brothers are in college, and... wait, Morgan, do you have any siblings?"

"Nope! I'm the one and only."

"Oh, okay. But um, yeah, Nori, I can't imagine what it must be like to have to be the example for your younger brothers and sisters. Do they really look up to you?" Nori nodded.

"Especially the ones that are still in elementary school. Jamie and Lily still see me as the next big star. They often tell me that they want to see me in theaters someday. Desiree's been trying to establish her own identity ever since she started middle school, but when she was their age she was like them too. Something tells me that if I told them, not only would they believe me, but they'd also start to think of me as a superhero with a secret identity, and I don't want to have that kind of pressure on me. I know this doesn't make sense, but I feel like if I told them, they'd somehow be in more danger just from knowing about it, even if they never told anyone else."

Lydia could sympathize with the idea, feeling something similar towards her family. Damien, on the other hand, shrugged and said to Nori,

"I don't think my sister Lin is any worse off than anyone else for knowing about it. The two of us have talked about the information QIB's gathered about the valley, and basically we don't know enough about how it decides who to take beyond 'It takes young people on a predictable basis.' Sometimes they have self-esteem issues, sometimes they're like me and have a burning desire for adventure... and we don't really know if the valley has some kind of intelligence behind it, either. It sucks how little we really understand about it, but there's nothing we can do except work with what little we know. And honestly... I'm done talking about it right now. Seriously, FantasyFlare begins today, and the moment school lets out I'm heading home to make sure I've got all my stuff packed."

"FantasyFlare? That convention over in Houston? Ohhhh, snap." Morgan said, giggling.

"What's so funny?" Nathan asked.

"I didn't know you guys were going to that. I've had my hotel room reserved ever since I first got word of the where and when about it!"

"Oh, seriously? Where are you staying?" Damien asked.

"The Helena across the street from the convention center. I've got some college friends that live in Houston, so we all pooled our money together and we've got rooms all next to each other on the third floor."

"Well, whaddaya know. That's where we're staying. Our rooms are on the second floor, though. Guess we'll see you over there!"

"Sounds like you guys are all going to be there. Hope you all have fun." Nori said. She hadn't heard of the convention, and was unsure that she could go even if her car wasn't wrecked.

"I'll be taking a ton of pictures of it all. You should check out my Scrapbook account, SuperStarLuna." Morgan pulled out her phone and showed Nori her page on the image-sharing website. The image in the center of the screen was Morgan with a pink streak in her hair much like the white one she had now, wearing a purple t-shirt with the image of a chibi character asleep at her computer in the dark on it. She was winking at the camera, and had an index finger resting on the side of her chin as she smiled with an open mouth.

"Oh, okay! Let me see here..." Nori took out her own phone and accessed the page, subscribing to Morgan's update feed. It was clear from the list of albums below the cover image that Morgan was not only a cosplayer, but someone with a prolific amount of pictures posted online, numbering in the hundreds.

"Wow, you're really active. How do you afford all the materials for your costumes?" She asked. Morgan laughed at the question as she put her phone away.

"Knowing where to look for really good deals, that's how. And there's the matter of not ever having to worry about money... but anyways. Damien, you said you were going to leave right after school?"

"That's the plan. Lin knows Houston better than I do, so she's going to be driving over there. Allie's coming with us, and so is Jacob. Hey, Lydia, remind me again - are you going with us or with Nathan?"

 _Damien's car only holds five people, which means I'd probably be squeezing in the backseat. Nathan intends to follow them in his truck, but if I went with Damien and the others, he'd be all alone. I kinda don't want to be the one who ends up making Jacob get squeezed in the middle of the backseat, so..._

"I'm going with Nathan." He seemed surprised for a second to hear his name, but then smiled at the realization that Lydia was going to be riding with him.

"Aw, yeah! I was hoping somebody would come with me. Would've been really boring if I had to drive the whole way by myself." He said. Damien took a drink of his soda and said,

"Alright, so... Allie and I already packed our stuff into the car. We're gonna drop by my house to pick up my sister and then we'll head for Jacob. But then... we gotta actually meet up somewhere so Nathan can follow us. Huh. Hey, Lydia, you said you lived nearby, right?"

"Uh huh."

"Well, according to the directions Lin printed out last night, the road we're gonna need to take to leave town isn't too far from your house. Jacob lives over on the eastern side of town, so I think it'd work out best if we all met up at your place and then left from there. Is that alright?" It then occurred to Lydia that none of the other QIB members had ever been to her house before. They had always met up at Damien's when they got together outside of school, which up to this point had only been for QIB business.

"Yeah. My parents already know I'm going as soon as school lets out, and they won't be home until we're already gone, so... that should be fine."

"I'm gonna go on ahead of you guys. I'll mostly be hanging with my friends from Houston, but if we cross paths at the convention, I'll be sure to say hi!" Morgan said.

 **Friday, After School - Cloudy**

"This is a pretty nice house." Lin said as she drove up to Lydia's house and parked in front of Nathan's truck. Damien saw the street-facing window on the second floor and said,

"I think that's Lydia's room up there. Yeah, she lucked out getting something like this. I mean, it's not a mansion or anything like that, but her parents have gotta be making pretty good money to afford it."

"Should we get off?" Jacob asked. He looked at the front door to see that Nathan was patiently waiting in front of it after having knocked on it. The door opened and Lydia brought out a gym bag along with her purse.

"Hey! Are you ready to go?" Nathan asked her.

"Yep! Let's get going." As she walked out, Gerald looked out at the vehicles parked by the curb and waved.

"Don't forget to bring me something cool!" He said. Nathan opened the toolbox on his truck and placed Lydia's gym bag in there. Lydia got into his truck and the group left for Houston.

"What's that piece of paper you have in the cup holder?" Lydia asked, pointing to a folded piece of paper occupying one of the empty spots.

"That's a copy of the directions to the hotel in case we get separated. We shouldn't need it, though." Nathan said, keeping a close eye on Damien's car as they navigated towards Interstate 45, which was to be their main thoroughfare taking them into Houston.

"Got it. I'm glad we've already dealt with the Idol threat for a while. Now we can enjoy the convention without having to jump into a mirror at a moment's notice."

"Yeah, no kidding. I was beginning to think the valley was gonna make us wait _three_ weeks and then take in _three_ people. I wouldn't be surprised if it started doing that at some point, too." Nathan said, slapping the steering wheel. Lydia's shoulders sunk at the thought, causing Nathan to briefly glimpse at her to see that she was looking down at her purse with worry.

"Oh, uh, sorry. I know we're, uh, supposed to forget all about that stuff for a while. I won't talk about it anymore."

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes as the group got onto the interstate. From here, it would be a largely straight shot into Houston, at which point Nathan would have to pay close attention to Damien's car in order to not get lost or stuck in the wrong lane by the dense traffic. Once Nathan was sure he could afford to relax a bit on following behind it, he tried to get the conversation going again.

"So... you ever been to something like this before?"

"No. I've never been to Houston, either. This'll be my first time going to such a big city."

"I've been there a couple of times before. Y'know, to see some football games, and a few other things. Actually, they're gonna hold the Mega Bowl there next year. I wish I could see it in person, but more than likely I'm just gonna watch it at someone's house. There's a ton of stuff to do in Houston, though."

"I think Gerald once mentioned something called the Rhapsodia. It's supposed to be a really high-class mall, right?"

"I guess. I don't think I've been there before. But yeah, uh, if you were gonna find high-class malls, Houston would definitely be the place."

"I went on the FantasyFlare website last night, just to see what kind of events they have. The way it's organized, there's literally no way to go to everything even if you could be in two places at once. I don't know what I'm going to go to - I'll probably just stick with Allie and Damien the whole time." Lydia remembered seeing an itinerary with multiple concurrent lists of events, half of which had titles that referenced things unfamiliar to her.

"Yeah, I'll probably do the same thing. It's too bad Nori couldn't come with us. I know we only met her yesterday, so there's no way we could've actually taken her with us, but I've always felt like our group was more than just a bunch of random people brought together by weird supernatural _stuff._ Oh, sorry. I said I wasn't gonna talk about that anymore."

"No, no, this is fine. I hear what you're saying. We had to make the plans in advance and the only reason Morgan is going to be there is because she had already planned on going long before she met us, and even then she said she'd be with her friends from Houston instead of us. I know what you're trying to say - you think of us all as friends, and you want us to do more things together to strengthen that bond." Nathan took a second to look over at her; she was looking forward and moved her eyes to meet his before he looked back at the road.

"Yeah. Yeah, you really nailed it there. I know we're all busy with our own lives and stuff, and that's not even counting you-know-what, but even though I'm not as familiar with this stuff as the others, I'm looking at the next couple of days as an opportunity to have _fun_ with you guys, to do something _different_ than what I'd probably be doing on the weekend."

"Looks like Lin is switching lanes." Lydia pointed out. Nathan watched as she shifted into the leftmost lane, and moved over into it. He noticed that the traffic around him was flowing pretty swiftly, and looked down at his speedometer to see he had to go at least eighty miles per hour to keep up with Lin.

"Literally living life in the fast lane right now." He said. Lydia laughed a little at this, which surprised him.

"Hehe. I uh, didn't mean to tell a joke."

"I know. That's what made it funny."

* * *

As the group arrived in Houston, Nathan couldn't help but smile at Lydia's awestruck expressions that were constantly being renewed by all the new sights - the skyscrapers that made up the Houston skyline, the many roads that stretched above and below them, and the scores of cars and road signs that made Lydia feel like she was a tiny minnow in the sea.

"Man, you're reminding me of when I first came here as a little kid." Nathan remarked. Lydia turned from the window and said to him,

"Everything about this place is amazing so far. The roads are so big! The signs are so... detailed! There are _so many_ cars here, all of them going to different places! It's so big, I almost feel like it's going to swallow me!"

"There's like what, two million people living here? It's pretty crazy." Lydia looked out the window again and said,

"Two million. You could put my little town in here a thousand times and it still wouldn't be half as big. I wonder..." She trailed off, thinking that it would be so easy to disappear in such a massive sea of people.

"Oh, uh, looks like Lin's getting off the freeway here." Nathan said, quickly following her lane transition before the traffic filled the gap. He glanced at Lydia and said,

"You were saying something?"

"I was just thinking that if someone wanted to make themselves scarce, there'd be no better place to do it than in a city this huge. I always knew Houston was really big, but... I'd never seen it in person before. It feels like you could be anyone you wanted in a place like this." Nathan followed Lin to the turning lane.

"Never really thought of it like that. I dunno, to me this is a great place to visit, but I don't think I'd actually wanna live here. You're right, there's a ton of people here and you could blend in real easy, but... I kinda think I'd be happier living in a smaller place like Quartz." The two vehicles turned onto the street, where they could see the multi-story Helena hotel about a mile down.

"I see. I wonder how long it would take to actually get home if you lived across town here. I mean, there are so many cars..." Lydia said, looking back at the freeway with its hundreds of vehicles moving slowly due to the density of traffic.

"Probably like, an hour. Not even kidding, I've heard it takes that long to get places when the traffic gets real bad."

"Wow. What are you supposed to _do_ that whole time? Listen to the radio?"

"I guess. I'd rather have my own music playing, though. Look, there's the hotel." As they were coming up on the Helena, Lydia could then see the convention center across the street, where some people had congregated by the entrance. She could see a few colorful costumes and wondered if she'd come across any she could recognize. After a few minutes of Nathan and Lin trying to find a parking spot, everyone was in the lobby of the hotel. Lin stepped forward to get their room keys, and she gave a plastic card to each individual.

"Here, a room key for each of you. Don't lose it. Come on, I'll show you to our rooms." She led everyone up to the second floor, where their rooms were situated near the window at the end of the hall. She turned to the group and said to them:

"So, while we're all standing here... let me just say I'm not going to be anybody's chaperone. You're definitely free to come with me if you don't know what you want to do, but I'm not going to be watching anyone like a hawk. They'll be handing out maps of the convention center at the door, so you should be able to find your way around independently. We're fortunate enough to be across the street from the convention, so if at any point you don't feel like being there, you can just come back here and rest. You all have your phones, too. Alright?" Everyone acknowledged her and went inside their respective hotel rooms. Once Lydia had placed her things in one of the drawers in the room, she turned to Allie and Lin and said,

"Are we going to eat before we go? Do they have food at the convention center?"

"Yes, there are concession stands inside. Normally I'd advise against it since they're overpriced, but since we're not exactly short on cash, I guess it's not a problem for us. There's also a couple of other places within walking distance. I guess it's better if we eat now, that way we don't have to come and go. Let's go see what the guys want to do." The girls left their room and knocked on the door to the guys' room. Jacob answered the door.

"Are we going to eat soon?" He asked. Lin made her way inside, followed by Lydia and Allie. Damien was sitting on the bed, while Nathan had opened the curtains to see their view of the parking lot from the second floor.

"We're gonna go eat. There's a Wendell's and a McDenton's a block away, a Sub Hut around the corner on the other side of the convention center, or you can just eat whatever the concessions are selling. According to the schedule, they're gonna kick everyone out at around 2:00 in the morning, seeing as that's when the rave ends." Damien fell back on the bed with his hands behind his head.

"Going that late, huh? Damn, we're nightclubbing it now, boys and girls." He said. Nathan turned to face everyone and said,

"Do you know what they have at the concessions?"

"Not gonna know until you get there. I'd rather not spend the extra money even if we have a ton of it to throw around, so I'm heading to the Wendell's. If you want to come with me, let me know now." Damien got up off of the bed and grabbed his phone from the drawer next to it.

"Yeah, sounds good to me. Anyone want to come with us?"

"I'll see what they've got at the concessions. I'm tired of eating the same old stuff all the time." Nathan said.

"I'd really like to go to the Sub Hut, but I also don't want to go by myself..." Allie said.

"I'll go with you! I've been craving a meatball sandwich from there." Jacob called out from the entrance to the room.

 _Looks like everyone's split up all different ways again. What do **I** want to eat, though? I definitely don't want to go by myself anywhere outside of the convention center. I also don't particularly want burgers from Wendell's, nor do I really want to take my chances with the concessions, so... Sub Hut it is._

"I'll also go with you, Allie. Lin, you said it's on the other side of the convention center?"

"Yeah. Basically just go straight through the building to the other entrance. You'll see it once you're outside again. It'll also give you the opportunity to get your wristband, which you're going to need if you want to go in and out of the convention center. Alright! Guess we're ready to go, then."

With that, everyone left the hotel. Lin and Damien turned right towards the Wendell's, while everyone else crossed the street and came up to the entrance to the convention center, where people were waiting in line to pay the fee to get in. Once it was their turn at the front, Lydia found herself with a wristband over her left wrist that was made of something that felt like paper, but turned out to be far more durable than she expected it to be. They went through the doors and were faced with rows of tables and vendor stands, with everything from books to posters to plushes and all sorts of action figures. Many people were standing in the area, some of them in costume, some of them taking pictures of the people in costume, and others perusing the various goods for sale.

"Whoa! Look at all this _stuff!_ " Jacob exclaimed. Allie snickered, and began to walk forwards.

"We'll have plenty of time to check it out later. Come on!" She said, leading the group across the large open room. Nathan took a moment to look at the map he'd been given, and saw that the concessions were to his right as soon as they made it across the vendors' area.

"Guys, this is where I split up from y'all. I don't know if I'll find something to do once I'm done, so I guess I'll just stick around the vendors here until I figure out what I wanna do." He said once they had gotten across.

"Alright! We'll see you later, then." Allie said to him. Lydia saw that there was a blonde-haired girl wearing white angel wings and a white corset smiling in the distance, surrounded by people. She watched for a moment as Nathan slowed down to look at her before he walked on past. Jacob, walking next to Allie, asked,

"So... was there anything in particular you were gonna go to once we're done eating?"

"There's a panel on the use of fantastic elements in urban settings that starts at 7. We should be done by then. After that, I want to go see what the arcade they've set up over in Room 115 has to offer. See, when I was really young, my parents would take me to Dragon's Den, which was the one arcade we had in Quartz - it was in the Halborne Mall, actually. It _used_ to be a really good place, but since arcades are kind of a thing of the past now, it closed down in 2010 and the space it used to occupy is now a Spotlight clothing store."

"Dragon's Den, huh... I think I went there a couple of times." Jacob said. Lydia tried to remember if she'd come across a store like that the last time she was at the Halborne Mall. The word "Spotlight" vaguely registered in her mind, which meant she probably had seen it but didn't go inside for whatever reason. Her thoughts were distracted by a young man wearing a top hat and a long, black coat with red straps around the back, and as soon as she found herself staring at him, she turned away.

"Conventions like this will often gather a bunch of arcade machines and put them in a room, along with TVs and consoles for those who want to play fighting or racing games. It's a lot of fun, and is pretty much always a source of entertainment if you don't know where else to go." Allie explained. The three of them came to the other entrance of the convention center and went through the doors, where the green and yellow colors of the Sub Hut sign peeked out from around the corner of the intersection.

 _I wonder where Morgan is. This place is pretty big, so it's possible we might not see her all weekend, but I kinda want to run into her and the friends she mentioned. I can't wait to see what else this convention has in store for us. I've already seen some really amazing cosplays, too. I think someone mentioned that there was going to be a cosplay contest tomorrow - there's no way I'm going to miss that._

* * *

 **Original upload date: September 15, 2016**

 **SakuraDreamerz - You think _you're_ late? It's been almost two months since I last updated this thing! XD For what it's worth, since you brought up a lookalike comparison, I always felt like Nori resembled Haru Okumura from Persona 5. That's the only physical similarity between my characters and P5's, at least as far as I'm aware.**

 **KatoriAeku - I appreciate the review. Thanks for posting. I've considered a few different songs that would act as battle songs, but I never settled on one.**

 **Guest (Aug. 7) - If you're reading this, you probably already know that F.Z.'s kinda softened up on the idea of people coming in of their own free will, especially since everyone now knows the valley doesn't spontaneously generate Idols. Thanks for the review.**

 **A/N: Anyways... I'm still chugging along, slowly but surely. Writing the slice-of-life segments is honestly harder for me than any of the fight scenes, which slows my progress far too much. Let's see if I can update this again before November, huh?**


	46. Chapter 42

**October 16, 2015 - Friday, Evening - Cloudy - Day 1 of FantasyFlare**

After having their fill of food from the Sub Hut, Lydia, Allie, and Jacob made their way back to the convention center. They found Nathan looking at a set of action figures near the edge of the vendors' area. He noticed them approaching him and said,

"Hey! What are y'all gonna do next?" Allie pointed towards a sign indicating the direction of a staircase.

"There's a panel I wanted to go to that starts in a few minutes. It's in room 205. I guess you all want to come with me?" She asked.

"Sure! None of us have ever been to something like this before, so we'll just follow your lead for right now." Nathan said. Lydia and Jacob nodded along with him.

"Well, alright. Let's go, then!" Allie led the group towards the staircase. As they began to ascend the stairs, a young brown-skinned woman wearing a black hat with a black veil covering her face quickly ran up the stairs. She wore a black blouse and black jeans, along with a pair of black shoes with small lavender heels. The group noticed her rush ahead of them and almost run towards room 205.

"Huh. Wonder why she's in such a hurry." Jacob remarked, noticing that no one else going into the room was rushing inside.

"I'd say she was dressed for a funeral, but... who would come straight here after a funeral? Not to mention I don't think you'd wear jeans to a funeral." Nathan said. The group went into the room and saw that the strange woman had made her way to the side of the stage where the panel members had gathered. A projector was pointed at a screen behind them, showing a slide with the words _"City Lights and Magic Words: When Reality and Fantasy Collide"_ on it. This prompted Allie to reach for her schedule and check exactly who was supposed to be on the panel at this particular gathering.

"Featuring several best-selling authors, including James Carter, B.L. Thompson, Lacey Price, and Kyvanna Ariel Rohan..." She read out loud. The others shrugged at the list of names. Jacob looked over to the people behind the table, trying to figure out who was who.

"I know a couple of those people, but I don't know what any of them look like." He said.

"Uh, let's go find a place to sit. They'll probably introduce themselves once it starts." Nathan said, and the group went and sat down in the moderately-sized crowd. A young man with spiky brown hair wearing a lanyard and a graphic t-shirt took a microphone in hand and said,

"Alright, looks like we're gonna get started here. On behalf of FantasyFlare and the authors that have agreed to participate in tonight's panel, I'd like to welcome all our attendees. Before we begin, I just want to go over how this is going to work..." He then explained the format of the panel, which would involve the four authors seated before the crowd taking turns going through the content of the presentation they had prepared as he, the moderator, would occasionally ask them some questions. Once that was done, they'd open up the floor for fan questions. From where they were sitting, the group could hardly see the name cards situated in front of each panelist, but that was cleared up as they began introducing themselves.

"How's it going, everybody? Are you all doing well tonight?" The panelist at the far left spoke into his microphone. The crowd responded positively, making his smile grow wider.

"Glad to hear it! To all those I haven't met yet, hello! My name is James Carter and I'll be one of the folks giving you an insight into just what it means to blend our world with the worlds in our heads." He was a man in his mid-thirties, with a clean bald head and well-trimmed facial hair. He sported a pair of black-framed glasses, and wore a gray t-shirt with a design obscured by his sitting posture. He reached for a remote and pressed the button to advance the presentation, which had the question _"What is Urban Fantasy?"_ at the top of it.

"So, let me start by saying that the term 'urban fantasy' is a little bit of a misnomer in that it doesn't always take place in the big city, or in the suburbs. It has to do with fantastic elements being inserted into our otherwise normal world; if you've read any of my books or the books of my fellow authors here, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Even if you haven't, it's not too hard to think of something that would be classified as 'urban fantasy'. What I and my fellow panelists want to take a look at is not so much the _definition_ of urban fantasy, but rather the inspirations behind it." He pressed the remote's button again and moved the presentation to a slide that read _"What Inspires Urban Fantasy?"_ at the top. He then continued speaking.

"Take for example - I remember one day when I was about six years old, I went to the park to toss a ball around with my older brother and he said to me, 'Hey, Jamie, what's that tree stump doing there? I thought there used to be a tree there!' Well, it turned out the city had come to cut the tree down because it had completely died off over the winter and it had started to rot, but we didn't know that at the time. So we went over to it and started making guesses as to who could've cut it down, and one of the things we came up was that it was a magic tree, and the lawn gnomes from the neighbor's yard across the street came to life and cut it down. We hated those lawn gnomes! They were so creepy to us, sitting in one spot all day with that _expression_ on their faces. I remember my mom getting after us because we'd make faces back at them as we walked by, but for a while after that I couldn't trust lawn gnomes because I thought they were evil. I used to daydream in class about what they were secretly planning, and eventually those daydreams turned into actual stories that I wrote down."

He had mimicked the expressions he was talking about, making his face look blank, full of happy emptiness, or even somewhat deranged based on the lawn gnomes he was referencing. The crowd ate it up, laughing at his little tale. Once he was done, he shot a glance at the middle-aged man sitting next to him, signaling him to continue where he had left off.

"For me, it was quite different. Hello! My name is Brendan Lloyd Thompson, though you all more likely know me as B.L. Thompson." He seemed to be in his mid-fifties, with salt-and-pepper hair and signs of wrinkles beginning to take shape on his face. He wore a solid black polo shirt with a nametag pinned to the breast and a lanyard around his neck.

"Just so we've gotten this one out of the way, yes, I know I am a tasty five-layered sandwich consisting of bacon, lettuce, tomato, and two slices of bread. They say you are what you eat, and I am certainly no exception to that." Lydia was confused for a moment when the crowd laughed again, before realizing what the man's initials spelled out. She laughed along with Nathan, who had taken a few seconds to get it himself. Once the noise had quieted again, Mr. Thompson continued speaking.

"Inspiration can come from many, many different sources. I started writing because it was at odds with my parents' aspirations for me to become a financial mogul. It was in the days of flower power and the Vietnam War, and although I was too young to participate in the anti-war protests, I used to write stories where the idea of 'flower power' was more than just symbolic. I did this in secret, of course, because my parents would not condone me pursuing what they considered 'wasteful frivolities'. Back then, writing stories where kids like me encountered fantastic powers and creatures was my way of escaping the harsher elements of reality that still remain with us even today. I didn't think anything special would come of it until I went to college, where I met many wonderful people that helped me to muster up the courage to show my stories to the world. It's been quite a journey, and I'm glad to have been able to give people just like you a place where they can find a respite from the coldness of the real world." He looked over at the woman to his left, who picked up on his signal to continue.

"Wherever we are, we find ways to spruce up the world we live in. I've always thought that the best part of writing stories was sharing them with others, and forming a community based upon that shared love. Hi! I'm Lacey Price, and I grew up bouncing from fandom to fandom the moment I learned they existed. Whether they were based on TV shows like _Professor How,_ or book series like _The Gauntlets of the Monarch,_ if you have an interest in something, there's a fandom out there to share your enjoyment of it with!" She was around the same age as Mr. Carter. She had her blonde hair tied up in a bun with two brown sticks crossed through it, and wore a white cardigan.

"I'm pretty much a fangirl whose dreams came true. I remember staying up late on the laptop my parents got me back when _dial-up_ was still a thing, writing stories on it and sharing them online. I didn't think back then that I'd actually go anywhere with it! I was pumped to get a couple of comments on something I posted and used to think I wasn't anything special because I'd see someone else with like, ten times the comments and thirteen times the word count and say to myself, 'Man, I wish I had _that kind_ of attention.' It's really easy to hold yourself back with that kind of thinking, though. I remember talking to a lot of wonderful people in chatrooms that encouraged me to keep on writing, to focus on improving my craft and not to bring myself down by comparing myself to others... and I really took that to heart.

So once I left home and started living on my own, I seriously considered the idea - I was going to put myself out there and see what happened. And I failed." She paused briefly to let that bit sink in. Lydia blinked, mildly surprised at the turn of events.

"Yeah. The first manuscript I sent out to a publisher was rejected. They weren't mean about it. They told me politely but firmly that they did not want what I had written - what I'd spent months working on. I cried about it, and I wondered for a good while if I was just wasting my time trying to be a writer. But deep down, I refused to give up. I couldn't accept defeat. I channeled my frustration at that failure into a story where the heroine trains a bunch and still loses, but comes out victorious in the end due to her unbreakable spirit. If that sounds familiar to some of you, it should! That story became _Evelyn LeJeune,_ and as they say, the rest is history. Sometimes inspiration comes to you one day while you're walking along a sidewalk, and sometimes it's borne out of personal suffering. Wherever it comes from, though, it happens to take the form of a story that marries both the world we live in and the world we _wish_ we could live in. That's what I think makes 'urban fantasy' what it is. Kyvanna?"

At the mention of her name, the young woman at the other end of the table perked up, as if she had been distracted by something in the room. Lydia and the others watched her with interest, as she was the woman in unusual black clothing that had passed them just minutes before the panel started. She adjusted her hat and cleared her throat.

"T-thank you. Hello... my actual name isn't Kyvanna, but that's the one I prefer to go by. Since my colleagues have told you about some of the things that have inspired them, I'm going to do the same." Unlike the other panelists, her voice was soft, slightly nervous, and noticeably high-pitched, making her harder to hear. She picked up on this and moved her microphone closer to her.

"My mother always used to tell me stories when I was little. One of my... earliest memories was of her giving me a bath and then putting me to bed. She brought me a big plastic bin full of books with their spines facing out, some of them blue, some of them red, some of them golden with black vines on them. She said to me, 'I'm going to read you a bedtime story. Pick any book you want and I'll read it to you.' I wasn't even three years old, so... I couldn't read any of the book titles. All I could see were lots and lots of colors, and... I noticed a purple that wasn't really purple, it was like a faded purple or maybe even some kind of creamy pink. It caught my eye and I reached for it, asking my mother, 'What's that color?' She grabbed the book with her fingers and said, 'Lavender, dear.'" She paused for a moment. Lydia's eyes were fixated upon her, observing her movements as she told her story. She was very still except for her head, which moved around as if she was trying to remember where things were in her memory.

"I thought that was the most interesting word back then - lavender. Such a big-sounding color compared to red, blue, green, white, black... a-anyways. She asked me if I wanted her to read it to me and I said yes. I don't remember much about it, but... it was about a little bird, a bluebird that was born with lavender feathers. I think if you asked me when I first decided I wanted to write stories, it would have been back then. I mean, I didn't know how to read or write when I was that small, but I used to look around in my backyard all the time for lavender bluebirds, or even any bluebirds at all. Those children's stories my mother used to tell me sowed a seed inside my heart. I grew up wishing I could find something in the real world that was like the stories I used to hear. Um, you all have probably heard that saying, the one that goes 'Truth is stranger than fiction.'? Well, I think that really is true. There are so many things about our real world that I don't understand. I found solace in imagining ways it could be like the world I used to believe in so fondly as a little girl. That's where my inspiration to write books comes from. I'm so glad that I was able to share them with you all. And, um... well, like the rest of my fellow authors have told you, there's a lot of different ways you can be inspired to make something fantastic. There's also a lot of different ways you can _make_ something fantastic, too. We're going to tell you about some of them tonight."

As she finished her sentence, she turned her head to look over at Mr. Carter, who picked up on the cue and advanced the slide on the presentation. For most of the hour, the panelists took turns talking about the particular topic at hand - which ideas popped up most frequently, which ideas they thought were hard to pull off, which types of settings captured the idea of 'urban fantasy' the most. The moderator occasionally interjected with a question of his own here and there, trying to elaborate upon their thoughts or move the discussion along. Finally, when the clock read 7:55 PM, the moderator once again took the floor and said,

"Okay, looks like we're almost out of time here. Anything else you guys want to say before we finish?"

"It's been a pleasure to participate in this panel. I hope you all have gained a better understanding of the process of creating a world like ours and yet unlike ours." Mr. Thompson said.

"Never forget that inspiration can be found all around you! Even things that you think are insignificant can have a boatload of potential if you stop to explore their possibilities." Mr. Carter said, grinning.

"Look around and talk to someone new if you haven't already. You just might make some new friends!" Ms. Price said, waving an arm across the crowd.

"Well... it was good to talk about this with you all. I hope that one day maybe... maybe one of you will be up here doing this. Maybe even more! I really want to see what kinds of stories you all have inside you." Ms. Rohan said, smiling brightly.

As the panel came to an end, Allie turned to the others alongside her and said,

"Well? What did you think?"

"It was like... kinda like a lecture that was actually pretty good. I'm not a writer or anything, but I feel like my mind's been opened or something. Like, now that I know more about this stuff, the next time I watch a movie I'm gonna find myself pointing out stuff I heard about here." Nathan said, crossing his arms. People began to leave as the panel officially ended, with the panelists all gathering and leaving together. Allie's own group also stood up and began to leave.

"I need to see if I can't go to more of these! They're pretty good!" Jacob said, taking out his copy of the schedule to see what other panels there were. Lydia looked over at it and saw that there was going to be another one in another half hour, in the very same room. It was titled _Styles of Animation: A Primer._

"Oh! There's going to be another panel on animation in here in a half hour! I think I'll stick around for that. I should probably find the restroom first, though."

"Lydia? How was it for you?" Allie asked. As she walked through the doors to the room, she looked over at the panelists that were beginning to leave the stage. Another group of individuals made their way over, almost certainly the setup crew from the next panel. The young woman that called herself Kyvanna was hard not to pay attention to because of her unusual outfit - she was the shortest and probably the youngest of the four panelists. Something in the back of Lydia's mind said that she would be the one most likely to believe in the existence of Personas, a thought that was shaken as soon as she realized Allie was asking her something.

"Oh, uh... it was good. They all had their own perspectives on it. What about you? Did you like it?"

"Yeah! Listening to them talk about how they went about their writing made me want to write something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. It's... I know we're here to get _away_ from you-know-what, but you guys can't tell me you _weren't_ thinking about it the whole time they were going on about ideas for it." Allie said. The group stood in the hallway against the wall facing the door.

"Yeah, I know. It's surreal. I'm not that great at writing - illustrations are my thing. But I think you once told me about how the only way we'd have any proof of the valley would be if I captured it in my paintings. What do you think people's reaction to it would be if I just showed them to people without telling them what it really is?" Jacob asked. Nathan shrugged. He glanced at Lydia, whose eyes were beginning to wander away from the group.

"I guess they'd say it was pretty cool and ask what it was about. I'm not artistically gifted whatsoever, though. But yeah, uh, we did kinda come here to get away from it, so... we should talk about it later. Jacob, you said you wanted to know where the restroom was? I can show you where it's at."

"Oh, thanks. You were headed to the arcade next, right Allie?" Jacob asked.

"Uh huh. Lydia, what do you want to do?"

"I'll go with you, Allie."

The arcade was in room 115, which was quite a ways away from room 205. Allie and Lydia split from the guys and walked to a large, open room where the mixture of video game noises and flashing lights made it apparent from the hallway what it was. Entire rows of arcade cabinets were situated next to each other, a good amount of them being games older than Lydia. She followed Allie as she was drawn to a set of particularly loud and flashy machines playing music as pairs of individuals stepped on a pad that lit up with each step they took. One machine in particular had a group of five girls gathered around it, with a familiar face on the stage keeping up with a thickly-packed wall of orange, blue, and purple arrows scrolling upwards on the screen. Alongside her was a tall young man wearing a crimson-colored t-shirt and blue jeans, with black hair tied back in a ponytail.

"Hey, that's Morgan! Let's go watch!" Allie said. As they approached, they were able to get a closer look at what Morgan was dancing to. The box of text at the bottom of the screen identified the song as _Rapture Sunrise ~ L4 skybound_ , with a stated difficulty level of 13 out of 20 and a green tint to the numbers designating the difficulty level as Expert. Lydia glanced between the set of arrows on Morgan's side and the set of arrows on the other guy's side - they both appeared to be doing the same thing, except Morgan's set of arrows scrolled more slowly than the other guy's. Even so, Lydia found the flow of the game to be completely inscrutable.

 _How can she keep up with all of that? I have no idea what's going on! I might know how to dance, but whatever this is is completely different from any kind of dance I'm familiar with... the game's called SuperStarDancer, huh? That must be where Morgan's username online comes from._

The song ended, and the results screen came up: 9,100 points to Morgan and 8,810 points to the young man standing beside her. Both scores qualified as an A rank, it looked like. Morgan turned to look at him and said,

"I can see why you like that song so much! It's a really good chart." She turned to the group of girls standing behind her and noticed Lydia and Allie standing near them. She wore a purple t-shirt with the image of six girls wearing sailor uniforms of different colors, three of them in front of a moon and three of them in front of a sun, and a pair of thigh-high jean shorts with white tennis shoes.

"Oh! Hey, you two! It's good to see you! These are my friends from Houston!" She gestured to them, including the young man that had been dancing beside her. The girls all turned to them and introduced themselves.

"Hey! I'm Katelyn! Morgan's told me so much about you guys!" She was a few inches taller than Lydia, with wavy brown hair and a t-shirt almost identical to Morgan's except for its black color.

"Name's Joanna." She was dark-skinned, had an afro and wore several pairs of bracelets on her arms with a purple tube top and blue jeans. She stood at the same height as Katelyn.

"My name is Rosalyn. It's nice to meet you." She was pale-skinned, and had her dark brown hair in a tight bun. She was the tallest of all the girls, standing a head taller than Katelyn and Joanna. She wore a jean jacket and a pink t-shirt that had the same graphic as Katelyn and Morgan's shirts.

"I'm Mariann." She had very short black hair, and wore a pair of glasses with black frames. Like Rosalyn, she was also pale. On her white t-shirt was a large, blooming pink flower. She was the shortest of the girls, only coming up to Allie's height.

"So, we finally meet! I'm Blair Huntington, and that is my brother Atherton." Lydia noticed the resemblance between them immediately - black hair in ponytails and piercing red eyes. Blair wore a blue t-shirt with a complicated, curvy, crystalline sigil on it with "D5" written in its corner, as if it was some kind of signature from a designer. She was also the second-tallest of the girls, coming up a few inches below Rosalyn.

"Yeah, I'm her brother. Good to see you." Atherton's words were brief, as the game in front of them prompted Morgan and him to pick one more song to dance to. Morgan spent the next minute and a half scrolling through songs, during which time her friends addressed Lydia.

"Lydia, you moved all the way from Crystal Rapids, didn't you? Wow! All of this must be so overwhelming for you!" Katelyn exclaimed.

"You don't even know. This place is like a whole different world to me." Lydia responded.

"I can only _imagine._ I've grown up here my whole life, so I'm used to all this! I hope you like it here in this part of the state."

"Morgan told us this was also your first time going to a convention. If you need anything, don't be afraid to let us know." Rosalyn said. Allie pointed to Katelyn's shirt and said,

"Those are the girls from the original _Lunar Solar_ on your shirts, right? Everyone always remembers the first series, don't they?" Katelyn grinned and looked over to Morgan, who was intensely focused on trying to find a song to play.

"We're actually going to cosplay as them tomorrow. It was her idea - she figured people would be most likely to recognize the first set of Lunisolar Knights!"

"Personally, I like the more recent series better. I didn't grow up watching the first series back in the '90s, so I don't have the nostalgia factor going for me." Mariann spoke up, trying to be heard over the sounds of the arcade. Joanna remained silent, watching Morgan try to settle on a particular song and Atherton's smile grow increasingly wide as he also watched her. Blair crossed her arms and spoke.

"Morgan decided to use up all of her dancing energy today, since we aren't exactly going to be able to move around like that in our outfits and makeup tomorrow. We're between events right now, so in a little bit we're going to split up and do our own things."

"Got it!" Morgan said, selecting a song. After quickly going through an options menu, the song began, and Lydia looked at the information at the bottom of the screen again.

The song was identified as _Superiority ~ Prime Pristine Summit_ , difficulty 16 out of 20, with a magenta tint declaring it to be the Standard difficulty. The song began with a grandiose-sounding orchestra playing for the first few seconds, making the song look slow before breaking into a mixture of classical instruments and heavy electronica sounds, speeding up the scroll of the arrows considerably.

"It's literally the hardest song in the game right now. Namuha, the company that makes these games, keeps making the boss songs even harder and harder every year - and _Superiority_ is the first one to actually have a 20/20 chart, on Ultimate difficulty. They're doing it two whole tiers below that and it's _still harder_ than like, 90% of the other charts in the game." Katelyn explained.

"I thought they stopped publishing these games outside of Japan. I wonder how they managed to get a brand-new cabinet here." Allie wondered aloud. Morgan and Atherton both tried their hardest to keep up with the stream of steps and jumps before them, with the life bars at the top of the screen going back and forth like liquid in a tube. Lydia thought about how exhausting it must be to both physically keep up with the steps _and_ mentally keep the arrows in order.

"It's not a dead series or anything. This cabinet is a Prime cabinet, and a localized one at that. You're right in that there isn't a whole lot of interest in the series anymore, but they're still making new cabinets and new music." Katelyn responded.

"Lydia, do you want to try it once they're done?" Mariann asked. Lydia's eyes widened at the thought, and she shook her head.

"N-no, it's okay. I think I'll just watch." As the song continued, Morgan's and Atherton's life bars dwindled closer and closer to empty, until the relentless flood of colored arrows ended and the music stopped, showing the results screen: 7,155 points (a C rank) on Morgan's side and 6,510 points (a D rank) on Atherton's. Both of them were visibly winded, with Atherton in particular holding onto the U-shaped bar built into the back of the pad for stability. Morgan reached for a bottle of water that was sitting on the side of the cabinet, unscrewing its top and taking a big gulp from it. The song's results screen gave way to a session results screen, showing their total points as 25,145 (B rank) and 22,785 (C rank) over three songs.

"Hey. Blair and I are gonna get going." Joanna said, tugging at Morgan's sleeve.

"Alright."

"You should come to the cosplay contest tomorrow, you two. We're gonna give the competition a run for their money, just you watch." Joanna said to Lydia and Allie.

"We're going to be at the rave later tonight. Perhaps we'll see you there!" Blair said, walking away from the machine along with Joanna. Morgan and Atherton stepped off of the stage, allowing Katelyn to step onto it.

"Allie, come on! Dance with me!" She called to her. Allie stepped onto the stage and Katelyn hit the Start button on the machine. Morgan stood next to Lydia, whereas Atherton grabbed a nearby chair and sat down on it.

"So, have you enjoyed the convention so far?" She asked Lydia.

"Yeah! You go to these all the time?" Lydia said over the noise.

"Yep, whenever I can! They're a ton of fun! Whew... I'm still beat from doing that. I can't even pass that song half the time, but having an audience invigorates me." Morgan said.

"I think I got tired just watching it. I can't imagine actually trying to do it." Lydia said, watching Allie and Katelyn start up their own session. Mariann watched quietly while Rosalyn had busied herself with her phone. Morgan let out a sigh of exhaustion, taking another drink from her water bottle.

"It's actually the biggest thing keeping me from gaining weight," She joked.

"The rave starts at 10. I really don't want to be all out of energy for it, so I think I'm going to go back to the hotel to rest a bit before I come back." She continued. Lydia pulled out her schedule and saw that the rave was taking place in the Hyacinth Ballroom, and that it would be headed by someone named DJ Zone. The rest of Lydia's group would certainly be going, though Lydia wasn't sure how long each of them would stay.

"Do you mind if I go with you? I think I need a break from this too."

"Not at all! Hey, you guys! Lydia and I are going back to the hotel to chill until the rave starts!" Morgan said. Allie looked back to acknowledge the two of them.

"Okay! We'll see you there, then!"

"I'll let the others know over our group text." Lydia said before leaving the arcade with Morgan. The two of them walked through the convention center, passing through the crowds. Lydia texted a message to the entire group letting them know where she was going to be until the rave started.

"Competition's always crazy for the cosplay contest at this con. I think the girls and I will do well, but watch somebody show up in a functional mech suit or something and wipe the floor with everybody," Morgan said, laughing at the thought and looking around their immediate area for anyone that fit that description.

"It's something else, I'll give you that. They really take costume parties to the next level." Lydia remarked.

"Yeah, definitely. You should try it sometime! I think you'd really enjoy it. I don't mind helping you out, and I'm pretty sure Allie or Damien would pitch in too. Hey, speaking of costumes, what were you planning on doing for Halloween?"

"I hadn't thought about it. The homecoming dance at school is in two weeks and I'd been thinking more about that than about my Halloween plans. I guess it depends on what my family's going to want to do."

"Alright. Well, if you don't have any other plans by then, I just want to let you know about the Halloween party I'm going to on the 29th. It'll be in town, so you won't have to go very far or anything. It's being hosted by a real party animal - he's seriously running a costume contest with a prize there. Figure out what you're gonna do and let me know, okay?"

"Okay."

The two of them continued talking until they left the convention center, at which point the exertion caught up to them and they both remained silent until they got to Morgan's hotel room on the third floor. The two of them went inside her room and Morgan immediately kicked off her shoes and leapt onto the bed, letting out a sigh of relief as she spread her limbs out to cover the bed.

"Oh, boy. I gotta try not to fall asleep on this thing. It feels _really good._ " She said, staring up at the ceiling. Lydia noticed that there was evidence of another person staying in here, with another suitcase sitting on top of the dresser.

"Who are you sharing this room with?" Lydia asked.

"Katelyn. Jo, Rose, and Mari are in the room on one side of us, and Blair and Atherton are on the other side. Fun fact: they all met in high school and have been BFFs ever since. They're also all old enough to drink, which means things are gonna get real fun later tonight." Morgan said. Lydia went to sit down on one of the chairs in the room, facing Morgan who was still splayed out on the bed.

"How did you meet them?"

"Blair and Atherton used to live across the street from me. We met when we were real young and hung out with each other a lot until her family moved to Houston seven years ago. We still hung out with each other, though, and through them I met the others. Blair's offered to let me move in with her when I go to college next year, and I'm seriously considering taking her up on the offer." Talking about college made Lydia wonder what her own plans for college were; she didn't have to make a decision about it just yet, but sooner or later it was going to come. Nathan's words about not wanting to actually live in Houston came back to her.

"I don't know what I'm going to do for college yet. Before I moved to Quartz, I figured I'd end up at Brewster University in Alpine - it's the closest college to Crystal Rapids. But now that I'm here, I have so many more options. Something Nathan told me on the way over here has stuck in my mind: it's a great place to visit, but maybe not a place I actually want to live in. I feel like I could completely disappear in a city as big as Houston, which is an idea that's both appealing and terrifying at the same time." Morgan sat up on the bed and made eye contact with Lydia.

"I hear you. I've always loved the idea of living in a place so full of life. I don't really have any hangups about it, though. Quartz is an okay place to live, but once I settle in a place like Houston, I don't think I'd ever want to leave." She said. Lydia looked towards the window curtains, which had been parted to offer a view of the convention center from the third floor of the hotel. People could still be seen trickling back and forth from the two, and the lights illuminating the area made it so that they were still readily visible even though it was already dark. The stars were completely invisible to her, and the black sky was coated with a layer of white from the artificial light that blanketed the city.

 _If you had told the twelve-year-old me that I'd be here right now, she would want to believe in it so badly. She'd have been okay with Fort Davis, or Fort Stockton, or even Alpine. Even making it to El Paso would've overjoyed her. The idea of moving to a place like Quartz would be something she'd snap up in an instant. Now, here I am in **Houston,** the exact opposite of everything Crystal Rapids was, with friends that don't know my past at an event that could never happen back there. It's her dream come true. In a place like this, I could forget ever being the girl who shouldn't have lived._

"Neither would I."

"Does that mean you'd never go back to where you were born? Not even to visit?" Morgan asked. Lydia closed her eyes and sighed.

"I don't know. I don't really want to talk about that."

"Um, alright. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. So... what's a rave like?" Lydia asked. Morgan bounced on the bed excitedly as she spoke.

"It's a lot of awesome music with a lot of people dancing, often with colorful flashing lights and outfits. You don't have to dress up or anything, but definitely expect a ton of energy. The Hyacinth Ballroom's kinda huge, so you won't have to worry about feeling crowded in unless you move to the center of all the people."

"It says the music is being provided by DJ Zone. Do you know who that is?"

"Nope! But I assume if they were hired to do the rave that they're pretty good!"

"It's supposed to go until two in the morning. I probably won't stay the whole time; I feel like I'll get burned out really quickly compared to someone like you who's done these things before."

"That's fine. As long as you enjoy the time you spend there, that's all that matters." Morgan said, falling back down on the bed. Lydia took out her phone to check the time: 8:30 PM. There was still quite a bit of time before either of them would have to leave. She looked at her text messages and saw acknowledgments from the group that they knew where she was. She figured that right now would be a decent time to text a few people she hadn't texted in a while.

 _I haven't talked to Lynne or Tori lately. Tori would probably gush over how awesome it would be to come to something like this, and I don't really know how Lynne would react. Well, it's not like I can't text them both._

"Hey. How are you doing?" She wrote and sent the same text to the both of them. Morgan rolled over on the bed and yawned.

"I'm not doing so well at staying awake with this bed tempting me. Lydia, talk to me." Lydia's response was to go over and turn on the TV, which started playing a sitcom. She turned up the volume to a reasonably loud level and sat back down.

"Aw, come on." Morgan said, flipping face-up again. Lydia's phone pinged, signaling an incoming text message from Tori.

"Ok! What are you up to?" She had written.

"Texting someone, huh? Who is it?" Morgan asked.

"A friend from school. Her name's Tori. She's always wearing clothing from the '50s." Lydia said. Morgan thought for a moment to see if she recognized anyone like that.

"Tori's a pretty common name, but there's only one group of people at school that dress like that. She must be one of the ultra-conservative Christian girls that goes there! Wow, I'm kinda impressed they even have phones. What's talking to _her_ like?" Lydia responded to Tori's text by telling her about the convention. She looked up at Morgan and said,

"Not what you might expect. She really wants to do things outside of her usual strictly-planned schedule, but since that's not feasible for her she likes to hear about what I'm doing. Kinda like she lives vicariously through me." There was another ping.

"Oh, wow! I bet it's amazing! Send me some pictures please!" Tori wrote to Lydia.

"She wants to see some pictures of the convention. I haven't thought of taking any, but I guess I can start doing so..." Lydia said. Morgan perked up and sat up straight on the bed before bounding off of it. She retrieved her phone from on top of the table next to the bed.

"Oh, I can send her all the pictures her data plan can handle. Does she have her own computer? You could point her at my Scrapbook page - I'm going to take a ton of pictures later tonight and throughout the rest of the convention. Heck, I already _have._ They're crappy phone pics, but I'm saving the good camera for tomorrow." She showed Lydia a bunch of thumbnails of photos she had taken today.

"The good camera?"

"Yeah, a digital one I have in my purse. I've been meaning to get another battery for it, since it's annoying to have to wait on the one I have to charge."

"Uh huh. Well, Tori _does_ have a computer of her own, so I guess I can pass that along to her. I'll still try to take some photos with my own phone and send her some, since I think she wants to see my particular perspective." Lydia responded to Tori's text by linking her Morgan's Scrapbook page and by telling her that she would try to send her some pictures of her own later on throughout the weekend.

"Thanks! Really appreciate it!" Tori responded within a minute. Lynne hadn't responded yet, leading Lydia to believe she was busy doing something else - at least until another ping proved that idea wrong.

"Doing fine. And you?" Lynne had sent.

"Huh, Lynne. That's an interesting way to spell that name. Who's she?" Lydia flinched at seeing Morgan hanging over her shoulder.

"You really like reading other people's phone screens, don't you?" Lydia asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice. Morgan giggled, very well aware of the sentiment.

"Maaaaaaaybe." Lydia sighed, recalling times when Gerald would try to read what was on her phone without her permission.

"Please don't do that. I had enough of that from my little brother."

"Alright, fine." Morgan said before jumping on the bed again.

"She's... well, since you're part of QIB, I can tell you who she actually is. She's the leader of Sycophanta, but she's also a junior at our school, just like I am. We might be enemies inside the valley, but I'd really like to think that doesn't mean we have to be enemies in the real world. She's a completely different person inside the valley." Morgan's eyes widened, and she grew excited once more. Lydia began to question just how tired she really was if she kept on reacting like a hyperactive little kid to things.

"Whoa, really? What do you talk with _her_ about?"

"Normal things. She really doesn't like to talk about supernatural stuff."

"Huh. I wonder why that is. I'd think she'd be trying to connive plans out of you or try to talk you out of opposing her."

"I don't know what's going on inside her mind. It's like she doesn't really want to be involved with any of this, but she told me that she willingly chose to be a part of it. I think we both want to be able to at least talk to each other like normal people, at least, so that's what we do." Lydia looked down at her phone and told Lynne about the convention.

"Friends on the outside, enemies on the inside. So... do you think you two would make good friends if none of this Persona stuff was a thing?" Morgan asked. Lydia stood up from the chair and walked over to the window, taking in the view.

"I'd certainly like to think so. I hope we can be good friends even despite it. Maybe then... maybe then I can convince her to give up supporting the Idols. We could put it all behind us." Even though she had just said it aloud and hoped in the idea, a part of Lydia felt that that hope was in vain. Lynne would give up supporting the Idols at the same time she would give up fighting them.

"That sounds nice." Morgan said. She sat up on the bed and looked at Lydia looking out of the window, able to see her reflection in it due to the light shining through. Lydia had always struck her as a cute little country mouse even though she was shorter than her; her movements were always kinda tentative, and although she didn't have the long braided brown hair she always associated with that kind of girl, her not-quite-shoulder-length brown hair gave off the same feeling. More importantly, she was the type of girl who would look out of a window with a wish just behind her lips - and those types were always full of interesting thoughts and emotions.

* * *

 **Original upload date: November 3, 2016**

 **A/N: Oh, well. I was a few days off. So, if you happen to be reading this in the same month and year that this was originally posted, do know that I probably won't be updating this until some time in December. Why is that? Because I've decided to do NaNoWriMo this year and as such, I'll be posting updates to that story instead. It's called _The Fragile Veil,_ and takes place in the same universe as this story. I mention that because there is a certain character in that story that has importance in this one - but beyond that one person, the two stories being in the same universe is inconsequential. Don't worry about this story, though. I might be slow on the updates, but I'm not letting this one go until it's done.**


	47. Chapter 43

**October 16, 2015 - Friday, Evening - Cloudy - Day 1 of FantasyFlare**

As Lydia stood by the window, she thought back to how Jacob first entered the valley. As both his and Nori's entrances proved, pretty much any reflective surface large enough to see one's face in could serve as a way into that mysterious other world. This weekend was meant to be a getaway from all of that, but there was one question that had been floating around the group text for a while that she could have an opportunity to answer right now: was it possible to go into the valley from a place outside of Quartz?

"Hey, Morgan?" Lydia asked, continuing to stare at her reflection in the window.

"What is it?"

"I want to test something here." She took a step back from the window and made for the bathroom in the hotel room. Morgan remained on the bed, watching her walk across the room.

"Like...?"

"I want to know if I can get into the valley from here. It won't take more than a minute." Morgan got up off of the bed and followed Lydia into the bathroom, where she stood in front of a large mirror. She looked at herself and focused on trying to enter the valley, only to feel an emptiness where there was usually a surge of energy that pulled her inside. Morgan curiously waved at the mirror, her eyes looking back and forth between Lydia and her reflection.

 _"I cannot feel the energy of the valley from here. We're too far away."_ Ophelia spoke to Lydia from within her mind. Lydia caught Morgan dancing with her own reflection and started laughing, making Morgan laugh along with her.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"What? Don't tell me you've never danced with yourself before."

"I was trying to do something here!"

"It doesn't take that long, though, does it? I think you would've done it already if you could have." Morgan said, pointing at her reflection and making faces at herself.

"Well, yeah. Ophelia just told me we're too far away from the valley to do it. That just brings up the question of why it's only Quartz that's affected, but... whatever, that's all I wanted to know right now." Lydia said before sliding past Morgan to leave the bathroom. She followed her and leapt on top of the bed again.

"Sooooo... we've still got like, an hour to kill before we need to get going. You don't have to stay _here_ the whole time if you don't want to. There's still a lot of stuff back at the con you could check out, and I could let one of my friends know if you don't want to go it alone." Morgan suggested, her eyes fixated on the TV. Lydia grabbed her phone and responded to Lynne's question, telling her about the convention and the rave she was going to go to later.

"I'm okay here right now. No reason to go back to my own hotel room since there's no one else there. I'll leave when I'm ready." Lydia said.

For the next half hour, Lydia remained in Morgan's room while she laid on her bed watching TV. Morgan had calmed down as there wasn't much more conversation to be had between them, and she occasionally poked at her own phone while Lydia texted Tori and Lynne. While Tori was giddy to hear about the atmosphere of the convention, Lynne expressed her dislike of large, crowded events like conventions - but she did find things like the panels and vendors to be interesting, at least. Lydia asked about her friends' Halloween plans: Tori had said that her family pretty much ignored the holiday as they had said it was derived from pagan worship, and Lynne was skittish about her plans. She had said:

"A friend of mine offered to be my date to the dance, but I haven't said yes or no to him yet. I told him I'd think about it."

"Was this that guy you told me about before? His name was Roy, or something?" Lydia responded.

"No, it wasn't Roy. He only needs to ask me once. This was... actually someone you've met before. It was Rory. He doesn't go to our school; he goes to Quartz East, and he wanted to see what it was like here at Fulton." From what Lydia had seen of Rory's demeanor, even within the valley he was bright and upbeat despite commanding darkness and being of the Death Arcana. Apparently he was also like that outside the valley too.

"It must be hard to keep their names in order." Lydia texted back.

"Lol. It's a lot easier when you consider how different they are. I couldn't mistake one for the other, ever."

"What makes them different from each other?"

"Rory is really optimistic and outgoing. He talks to me a lot about video games, movies, and even some celebrity gossip. Roy, on the other hand, is more of an aloof individual. I've known him for a lot longer, ever since we were in elementary school. He's more of an outdoorsman - he's done hiking, fishing, hunting, and camping with his father for years. As long as I've known him, I've always felt like there's a side of him I've never really seen." Reading the description of Roy's hobbies led Lydia to briefly think of another certain boy that did these sorts of things back in Crystal Rapids. She shook her head to free herself of those thoughts and responded to Lynne's text.

"Did you ever ask Roy why he always asked you to dances before anyone else?" In the background, Morgan had appeared to have fallen asleep watching TV. Lydia was surprised to see her completely still, at least until she opened her eyes, grabbed the TV remote, and changed the channel. Another chime signaled Lynne's response.

"I did. Let's just say... we had a long talk about it. To boil it down to a few words, though: he never wants me to not have the opportunity to go with someone. I've never cared all that much about going to these dances in the first place, much less going _with_ someone on top of it. But... well, I guess Roy makes it worth going for me."

"What about Rory? Are you going to tell him no after all?" Lydia asked. Lynne took her time composing a response, allowing Lydia to have a look at what Morgan had changed the channel to. It was a kids' channel, DimeBox _._ She didn't seem to have any intention of changing the channel, despite being out of the demographic for these kinds of shows - the kids on screen were definitely middle schoolers, or at least looked young enough to play them.

"You still watch DimeBox?" Lydia asked. Morgan shrugged.

"Eh, not since they finished _Daughter of the Elements._ I was just curious to see what they have now. I honestly don't watch that much cable TV anymore. I watch more online stuff these days. I'm pretty sure whatever show this is you could also watch online, too. That's what it means to live in 2015; you pretty much only need a TV for playing video games on, and you don't even need that if you have a good enough computer." She answered. Lydia thought about how she was able to catch up with Damien's recommended shows via Zulu, which had them all available for free. Before sites like those existed, if she wanted to watch the show from the beginning she'd have to have a box set of the episodes, or know someone who did and either borrow it from them or watch it with them in person.

Her phone chimed again with Lynne's response.

"I'm going to do something different this time. I'll take Rory up on his offer. I think he'll make for a very interesting date." Lydia felt that Rory was almost certainly the type to dance a lot whereas Lynne was _not,_ which would probably mean he'd try to drag her onto the dance floor at least _once_ throughout the night. The idea made her smile with delight as she texted back.

"You're right. He'll definitely stand out." Lydia checked the time on her phone and saw that the rave was going to start in about half an hour. She figured that would be enough time to browse the vendor tables to see if there was anything she could get for Gerald. She stood up from her chair.

"Morgan, I think I'm going to go back to the convention center. Are you still going to stay until the rave starts?" Morgan remained where she was in the bed, not bothering to sit up this time.

"Yep. It's gonna be going on for four hours, so... I'm not in any hurry to get there right when it starts. You gonna go straight over to the ballroom, or did you want to do something else first? I can get ahold of my friends and get one of them to show up at the entrance if you want."

"That'd be nice, thanks. Could you do that?"

"Yeah, no problem. Hold on, I'll call Blair." Morgan pressed her phone's touchscreen a few times and after a few seconds, she started talking again.

"Hey, where you at? ...cool. Yeah, Lydia's ready to get back to the con. Mind hanging out next to the doors across from the hotel? ...hold on, let me ask. Lydia, were you gonna go straight over to the ballroom or no?" Morgan said.

"I'll just hang around the vendor tables until I'm ready to go." Lydia replied.

"She's gonna look at the vendors for a while before she goes over. ...uh huh. ...yeah, I know. 'kay, thanks. See you then. Bye." Morgan said before hanging up.

"You remember which one Blair is, right? She's the one with the red eyes. Can't miss 'em." Morgan said. Lydia nodded and said goodbye to Morgan before leaving the hotel. She crossed the street and went through the doors to find the aforementioned girl waiting for her, holding a plush of a small, vaguely humanoid black creature with beady yellow eyes.

"Lydia!" Blair called out to her. Lydia went over to her and asked her,

"Did you buy that? What's it supposed to be?" Blair held up the plush in front of her and said,

"It's from one of my favorite video game series. It's basically the most common enemy you'll find in those games. So, you said you wanted to browse the tables? I can help you find something in particular if you have any ideas."

The area was still very active, with upwards of a hundred people congregated in the area - some shopping, some manning the tables, others walking around or just standing in one spot talking to each other. The fluorescent lights beamed down on everyone, giving everything a brightness that Lydia could only remember seeing in the Halborne Mall previously. She told Blair that she was looking for something she could buy as a gift for her brother, and mentioned that _Sinister_ was one of his favorite series. Blair guided her to a table where someone was selling posters from various franchises, where Lydia was able to find and purchase a poster depicting Detective Aster standing underneath a streetlight with a demonic figure looming behind his shadow. Afterwards, the two of them browsed the tables for a while until it was almost time for the rave to begin. Lydia looked back through the glass doors towards the hotel, realizing that she probably would have to return the poster to her hotel room first.

"I don't think I can carry this around with me for the rest of the night." She said. Blair began walking back towards the doors.

"Okay. We'll stop by the hotel real quick, then. I need to go drag Morgan out of that bed of hers, anyway. She'd marry it if she could, I swear." The two of them left the convention center and waited at the crosswalk for cars to pass. Throughout the whole time the two of them had been together, Lydia kept wanting to ask Blair about her unusually-colored eyes; was that actually a natural color, or did she wear colored contacts of some kind? Her brother had the same color eyes, so it was probably a natural thing, and yet... Lydia had never seen anyone with red eyes in person before.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you something a little strange. Is that okay with you?" Lydia asked. Blair made eye contact with her and chuckled.

"Is it about my eyes?"

"Yes. I guess you must get that a lot." The cars passed and the two of them began walking across the street to the hotel.

"I've heard it enough times. Yes, they're real. I don't blame you for asking, since where you're from you probably never got to see a whole lot of different people. It's also not all that common, either. I think it's more rare than coming across someone with blue eyes. Hey, speaking of blue _eyes,_ did you know there are people with naturally blue _hair,_ too?" Blair said. Lydia tried to think of someone with blue hair, but couldn't place a name to any of the faces that popped up in her head. They were mostly individuals from TV or the Internet.

"It's actually more of a navy blue. Sometimes it gets mistaken for black hair depending on the individual. There are a few other colors besides the standard black, brown, blonde, and red, too. In Houston I'd say there's... maybe one out of every hundred people that has a different natural hair color than those? I've seen young people with naturally silver hair, there's this kind of teal color, and then there's salmon pink... they really stand out in a crowd, for sure." Blair explained.

Once the two of them had gotten to the hotel and Lydia had stored away the poster she had bought in her hotel room, Blair mentioned that she was going to go up to the third floor to go bother Morgan. Lydia got a text from Damien, asking her where she was since the rave was about to start. She told him what she had been doing and he responded with a question about whether she was going to show up with Blair and Morgan or if he needed to wait for her back at the entrance. As funny as the idea of literally dragging Morgan out of bed sounded, she would've preferred going with her more familiar friends to the rave.

"You have fun prying Morgan from her pillows. Damien texted me to meet back up with the group, so I'm going to go with them." Lydia said to Blair as she began to ascend the stairs.

"Okay! We'll see you over there, then!" She responded. Lydia left the hotel and went back to the convention center to find Damien and the others waiting for her. They walked over to the Hyacinth Ballroom, which was a ways away from the vendor tables and had several sets of doors in front of it. The thumping of a beat could be heard from beyond the doors, and as some people went in, it was clear that the main lights had been turned off, replaced by arrays of spinning, colored lights.

"Oh, man. Here we are." Nathan commented as they approached the doors. Lin and Damien smiled, went forward, and opened a pair of doors for the rest of the group.

"Come on! It'll be a lot of fun." Lin said.

"Oh hey, look over there. Glowsticks!" Damien said, pointing at a table with piles of glowsticks on it. Everyone went inside and selected a pair of colored, glowing bracelets: Damien took red, Allie took purple, Nathan took yellow, Jacob took orange, Lin took pink, and Lydia took a light blue.

As she looked to the mass of people gathered in front of the DJ booth at the other end of the ballroom, she could see the lights from other glowsticks moving back and forth. The entire room was one big heart, beating in time to the rhythm of the music. While Lydia had listened to loud music plenty while rehearsing for her dance routines, this environment was something else entirely - the myriad of moving and blinking lights combined with the space-filling music made her entire body feel on edge. She kept close to the group, and dared not venture into the mass of strangers that was growing by the minute. They had moved forward enough to be able to clearly see the DJ focusing on the equipment before him. He was a young adult, wearing a pair of large, expensive-looking headphones over his spiky brown hair.

 _That must be DJ Zone up there. He's dressed up like just another convention-goer. I wonder how he puts together the music he plays... it's so loud I can feel the vibrations running through me. Everyone's just dancing however they feel like, and there are so many lights! Damien, Allie, and Lin said they've gone to these things a bunch of times - that must be why they look so carefree here. Nathan's at least trying to get into the spirit of it, even if he can't really dance that well. Jacob, though... the both of us are just standing around taking it in. He must not be used to this at all._

"Jacob!" Lydia shouted, trying to make herself heard over the music. Jacob looked over at her and shouted,

"What is it?"

"Are you doing okay?" Jacob raised his wrists, shaking them back and forth in time with the music.

"I'm okay! I've just never been to one of these before!"

"I know! Neither have I!" Lydia shouted back. In the company of her friends, she danced alongside them to the music that the DJ played, as songs faded into other songs and were spliced, mixed, matched, and rearranged to make them sound unique. After a time, a familiar set of faces joined them on the dance floor: Morgan and her friends. Not only did they have their own pairs of glowing bracelets, each of them had some other kind of glowing or flashing accessory, with Morgan in particular wearing a crystal-shaped necklace that repeatedly flashed different colors.

"Are you having fun?" Morgan asked, shouting over the music. Her friends dispersed from her and went into the mass of people gathered in front of the DJ.

"Yeah! It's really loud, though!" Lydia answered. Morgan nodded, smiling.

"Yep, it sure is!" The current song was abruptly brought to an end with the introduction of another song, changing out its steady beat for a fast-paced, hyperactive one led by a high-pitched voice saying something unintelligible. The crowd seemed to recognize whatever song this was and cheered, their dancing growing more frenzied alongside the music. Damien, Allie, and Lin joined in with the surge in energy, while the other three tried to keep up with varying levels of success.

"I don't know what this is, but it ain't half bad!" Nathan shouted as he began to pump his fist in the air. Jacob let out a breath and danced faster to keep up with the music. The lights that constantly cycled throughout the room also sped up alongside the music and the crowd, giving the whole area a surging feeling that Lydia found both exciting and overwhelming. She found her body wanting to move recklessly to the music, to abandon the careful range of motion that she had grown accustomed to as a dancer and let loose with whatever impulses flowed into her. She rapidly looked between the mass of people and the large empty space that made up the rest of the enormous ballroom, her thoughts alternating between how stifling it must have felt to be in that pulsating clump of people and how amazing it must have been to lose yourself in it.

Lydia decided that she'd had enough of being on the outside and moved towards the crowd. With a vigor that felt more like instinct than conscious action, she managed to maneuver her way towards the center of the crowd where she could look straight at the DJ. She looked around at the many faces that surrounded her, from the ones that towered over her to the ones that stood even shorter than she did, and saw the same feeling in each and every one: pure, unadulterated joy. Even though she was beginning to be squeezed in by the motion of the crowd, she allowed herself to fully join in with their combined motion, even as the DJ mixed up the tracks that were playing.

She hadn't said a word, but the people immediately next to her felt like friends to her. There was a blonde guy with several earrings, a brunette girl with a flashing choker and several pairs of glowing bracelets, another girl with long, flowing silver hair with a wide grin on her face, and two guys that were up tight against their girlfriends, the four of them all decked out with colorfully lit accessories. Sure, they weren't _actually_ her friends, but they all knew one thing despite never having met before: dance, dance, dance to the music as if it was the only thing you ever knew how to do!

It was a shock when the music finally slowed down, as after what felt like a whole hour of fast-paced music the DJ had decided to play something more mellow. Lydia was still surrounded by people as the speed that fueled her euphoric rush began to drain away from around her, leaving her panting and suddenly very thirsty. She looked all around and noticed that the people directly next to her had changed; some of their faces looked away from her and some of them looked _through_ her. Her mind's clarity began to return to her, making her wish that DJ Zone would go back to playing something fast again, go back to playing something that could make her lose her mind like she just had.

 _I miss the feeling already. Now I'm suddenly aware of things I don't want to be, like how hot it is in the midst of all these people and how much I want something to drink right now. Where are Morgan's friends? Weren't they somewhere in here? I can't tell where they might be since I can't see over most of the people here... I need to get out of all these people. I've had enough for now._

She began to make her way through the crowd again, finding it harder to get through the people despite the slower music dissipating them just a little bit. At the edge of the crowd, her friends had decided to sit against the wall and take a break. Damien and Allie were the first to react to her emergence, with the both of them standing up as she approached them.

"Did you have fun in there? You just went off on your own there!" Damien said, impressed and surprised. Lydia nodded, not particularly interested in talking too much at the moment.

"It was... unreal. I need some water."

"There are some fountains and restrooms right across from the entrance. I'll go with you - I need something to drink myself." Allie said. The others remained where they were against the wall and the two girls left the huge room. Returning to the relative silence and bright fluorescent lighting of the hallway made Lydia feel like she had just come from another world. The two of them drank some water and talked before heading back inside the ballroom.

"You look like you're having a lot of fun." Allie said. Lydia nodded, now feeling better after satiating her thirst.

"I understand why you like them so much now," She responded. The both of them thought back to how the dungeon Allie's Idol was in had been a warehouse where a rave was meant to take place; ever since the Idol had been defeated, it had been silent, but there had been a reason why the dungeon had manifested the way it did.

"The ones at conventions are different from the ones I was thinking of. If you think it's crazy here, it's even crazier at places that don't have to worry about kids showing up or about municipal oversight." Allie said.

"Wow. Have you ever been to any raves like that?" Lydia asked. Allie smiled and shook her head.

"No. Nothing like that ever happens in Quartz, and I don't have a car of my own, so... I just know what I know from watching videos, talking to people online, and imagining things. I do want to see what it's like once I'm living on my own, though."

"Does that mean you'd move here to Houston? This city is so big, I can't imagine you'd have a hard time finding that kind of party here." Lydia said. Allie looked back towards the ballroom's array of doors.

"I didn't really see myself going anywhere else. There are enough good colleges in Houston; I just haven't settled on one yet. And as much as I like the idea of partying every weekend, it's probably not going to be like that in reality. College is hard. Still, I can't wait to have all that freedom. But first I need to get my driver's license, and as soon as we get back home I'm going to talk to my parents about it. I think it's been long enough. Anyways, are you ready to go back inside?"

"Yeah! You should enter the crowd with me next time. Maybe we could even get the others to join in. I think the experience would be even better with my friends surrounding me."

* * *

At around one in the morning, the group left the Hyacinth Ballroom, having expended their energy from dancing at the rave. Morgan and her friends had intended on staying the whole time, and apparently they were going to have some drinks afterwards on top of it. No one spoke to each other as they left the convention center and went back to the hotel, all of them finding the walk itself much longer than it had been earlier in the night. The girls and guys split up and went into their respective hotel rooms, and everyone showered and got ready for bed.

"Oh, man. That was crazy, dude." Nathan said as he fell back on the bed. He had never danced that much in his entire life, and while the football games had left him feeling more sore and tired than he felt right now, it was a surprising amount of exertion to him. Jacob got onto the bed and turned on the TV, leaning back against the pillows.

"It was really fun. According to the schedule, they're going to have another one tomorrow night, done by DJ Big Salad." He said as he flipped through the channels. Damien came out of the bathroom and saw that the two of them were already on top of the bed. He noticed Jacob cycling through channels and asked him,

"It's one in the morning, dude. You're gonna stay up and watch TV?" Jacob stopped on the current channel - one that was devoted to 24-hour news - and looked at Damien.

"No. I find it easier to go to sleep with something boring playing on TV. Hey, look! This looks good." He adjusted the volume so that the news anchor's voice was soft, yet still audible. Damien sighed and put his hands behind his head.

"Eh, whatever. As long as you don't order up a movie in the middle of the night and start eating popcorn to it. Hey, Nathan. You gonna get out of that bed or what?"

"No, why would I do that? I'm gonna sleep here!" He said. Damien crossed his arms and frowned.

"Well, I'm not gonna sleep next to the two of you. There isn't enough room in that bed for all three of us. What'd you think I brought the sleeping bag for?" Damien pointed to the rolled-up sleeping bag sitting on top of the drawer next to the TV.

"Because... I thought _you_ were gonna sleep in it? Why would you bring a sleeping bag for one of _us_ to sleep in? Heck, this bed isn't _that small,_ dude. We're not gonna be crammed in here or anything and there's enough pillows for the three of us." Nathan sat up in the bed. Jacob began to slide underneath the covers, ignoring their conversation. Damien pursed his lips and remained silent for a moment, not willing to look Nathan in the eye. There was a moment of silence between them before Nathan realized what the problem was.

"Oh. You uh, really don't need to worry about that. We're all friends, dude. Seriously, there's nothing wrong with us sharing the bed here." Damien shook his head.

"I get what you're saying, but... okay, Jacob is one thing. He doesn't even take up half the bed. You, on the other hand... I just don't want to wake up and find you rolled over on top of me. That would _not_ be a fun experience." Nathan scratched his head. That made sense, kinda, but he felt like Damien was trying to pass off his real issue with it as something else.

"Yeah, I guess. Jacob, you're not worried about that, are you?" He asked the other boy. Jacob had already snuggled up against the pillows and looked like he was ready to fall asleep with his eyes closed and everything. He didn't open his eyes, electing to say only a single word in response:

"Nope."

"But dude, if you'd rather sleep in the bag, go for it. We're not gonna judge you. I'm just saying, there's nothing to worry about. I slept with my brothers all the time growing up. To me this isn't really any different." Nathan said, beginning to pull off the covers on the other side of the bed. He slid underneath them and began to get comfortable.

Damien looked at the space between them, and thought back to when he and Lin were small. In lieu of holding a stuffed animal, she often elected to take _him_ to bed with her and snuggled alongside him, as he was the only person in the house younger than her. It was something that she stopped doing once she had gotten used to the rest of the family, which was about a year after she was adopted. He barely remembered the experience himself, as he had hardly been a toddler back then. Sure, he had gone to sleepovers in the past, but that was back when he was still a kid - and there were too many kids for them all to sleep in the same bed, anyway. Nathan was right about them all being friends, but... the idea of being squeezed between him and Jacob made him cringe on the inside.

"I'm gonna be in front of the bed here. Good night, you guys." He said, turning off the lights and unrolling the sleeping bag at the foot of the bed.

* * *

"I think I've gotten _most_ of what I wanted already..." Lin said, sizing up the stacks of books, plushes, and figurines that took up an entire half of the top of the drawer that was across from the bed. She reached for her phone and looked at the list of things she had written down.

"Yeah, I still need to see if someone will show up with the AU version of Princess Belstella, the volumes of _Spirit Riders_ I'm missing, the silver and gold _Lunar Solar Supernova_ ribbons, and the subbed OVA for _Third Royal Blossom._ That's not counting any good doujinshi I'll find." Lydia felt that Lin would absolutely be the type to have a big walk-in closet if her interest happened to be clothes instead of fantasy-oriented media.

"How did you bring all of that back here? That looks like far too much for one person to carry." Lydia remarked. Lin cracked a smile as she put her phone down on the small table next to the bed.

"Oh, it is. Thankfully, I happen to have a brother who can carry quite a lot of things!" She got into the bed and underneath the covers. She removed her glasses, placed them next to her phone, and turned off the lamp that stood on the table. Allie was still standing beside the bed, having already placed her glasses on the other table that was on the opposite side of the bed. All the lights had already been turned off except for one lamp.

"Which one of us is going to be in the middle?" Allie asked Lydia.

"I'm okay with the middle. You can be on the other edge so you can reach for your glasses." Lydia said, getting into the bed beside Lin. Once Allie had also gotten under the covers, she turned off the lamp, leaving the three girls in darkness.

"Good night, you two. I'm going to be up an hour and a half before the convention center opens again; I'm not waking either of you two up unless you tell me right now." Lin said.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine." Allie said.

"No, that's okay. We'll catch up with you." Lydia said. It wasn't completely silent in the room; the ambient noises of traffic still carried through the room, making it harder for Lydia to fall asleep.

"Okay then. Don't worry about an alarm going off and waking you up early - I won't need one. Good night." Lin said, turning away from the two girls and facing the window. Lydia stared at the ceiling, her eyes adjusting to the slivers of light that managed to sneak in from underneath the curtains. This whole day had been something out of a dream to her: she had gotten to see the biggest city in Texas, gotten to experience the energy and entertainment of a convention, and for once allowed to act like she was completely normal.

"Good night." Allie yawned as she spoke, turning away from Lydia and facing the wall. Lydia looked briefly at her, her hair out of its usual bun and covering most of her back. It turned out to be quite straight, and would certainly look impressive if Allie ever decided to wear her hair down and put a good bit of effort into sprucing it up. She stared at the ceiling for a while, wondering how much time was actually passing as she tried to fall asleep. There _was_ a digital clock in the room, but it was on the table adjacent to Allie and so Lydia couldn't see it. She blinked, now effectively alone with her thoughts as she tried to discern any cracks in the ceiling.

 _The rave's probably over by now. That means everyone's going home, or to wherever they're staying for the night. Morgan's friends said they were going to have drinks back in their hotel room. I guess they're all over twenty-one, but Morgan certainly isn't. She didn't seem surprised or nervous or anything about it, either. Maybe she's just not drinking. But maybe she is. I don't know if I should be surprised that she'd consider it. I've never had any alcohol before myself. Apparently it tastes pretty strong. My parents don't really drink. I think I heard a while back that you can drink alcohol as a minor if your parents give it to you and they keep an eye on you. I don't know how true that is, though. I don't think my parents would like the idea too much, even if it was true. The traffic's still going, even this late. This must be a city that doesn't ever fully go to sleep. I guess if I ever choose to move here, I'll have to get a place that's quiet. Maybe... somewhere in the suburbs. I can't wait for tomorrow, though. It's going to be... so much fun._

* * *

 **Original upload date: December 18, 2016**

 **A/N: If you happen to be reading this on or near the month and day this was originally posted, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. If not... well, I hope the most recent instance of the holidays went well for you.**

 **SakuraDreamerz - I kinda forgot before November began that both Pokémon Sun and Moon _and_ Final Fantasy XV were coming out in that month. As such, I didn't get quite as far as I hoped. At least I made _some_ progress.**

 **Actually, since I've brought it up, as far as _The Fragile Veil_ is concerned, it's still ongoing. It's meant to be a shorter fic than this one (though it'll still likely break 100,000 words when completed, so not short in general), and I'll go back and forth between updating that fic and this one until _Veil_ is completed. That's the plan, anyway. We'll see if I can't at least get one more update here on this fic by the end of the year, though.**


	48. Chapter 44

**October 17, 2015 - Saturday, Morning - Sunny - Day 2 of FantasyFlare**

When Lydia woke up next, it was by the gentle shaking of Allie's hand. She stirred in the bed, blinking her eyes and feeling groggy.

"Mm? What time... is it?" Lydia mumbled. She noticed that Allie was already dressed, and glanced over at the digital clock that was on her left. The time read 9:30. According to the convention's itinerary, the doors opened to the public at 10:00 AM. That would have meant Lin had gotten up at 8:30, and true to her word, she wasn't in the room.

"The hotel stops serving breakfast at 10:30. I tried to wake you up earlier, but you'd just roll over and tell me to go away. Looks like all that dancing last night really tired you out." Allie said. Lydia sat up in the bed and stretched her arms, and noticed that the curtains had been parted to let the sunlight fill the room. Allie was wearing a pink t-shirt with the image of what appeared to be a winged cartoon rabbit wielding a magic staff on it, and had her red QIB ribbon tied around her hair bun.

"Oh. I... don't even remember that. Sorry. But thanks for getting me up. Where's Lin? The convention center isn't open yet, is it?" Lydia asked, getting out of the bed. Allie answered her questions as she began to get ready for the day ahead.

"No, she's probably hanging outside the entrance right now with the other early risers. If you're wondering what the guys are up to, I ate breakfast with Damien and Nathan earlier after I tried to wake you up. They told me Jacob didn't want to get up either, so maybe you'll be able to eat with him. I haven't run into Morgan or any of her friends today, so they're either already waiting by the convention center like Lin or they haven't left the hotel yet. The cosplay contest is at 8:00 PM, by the way." Lydia began to change into her outfit for the day: a blue t-shirt with ocean waves printed towards the bottom of the shirt, white pleated shorts, white tennis shoes with pink laces, topped off with her blue QIB ribbon.

"I'm going to go find the guys. See if you can't find Jacob, and we'll see you both later." Allie said, leaving the room. Lydia acknowledged her and finished changing clothes. The moment she was about to leave, she heard someone knocking on her door. She looked through the peephole and saw that Jacob was on the other side. When she opened the door, he smiled at her and waved.

"Good morning, Lydia! Looks like you haven't eaten breakfast yet either, huh?" He was wearing a bright yellow t-shirt, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes.

"No, I sure haven't. I heard they stop serving it at 10:30, so we should get going." Lydia left the room and went with Jacob down to the first floor, where there were still some guests eating. It was still fairly crowded, as the hotel had been booked solid due to being in such a convenient place. Despite the amount of people, there still seemed to be a good amount of food left - something that the hotel managers likely prepared for in advance once they knew about the convention, Lydia thought. The crowd was mostly young people; only perhaps one in seven looked to be older than thirty years old.

"What do they have? Looks like... bacon and scrambled eggs, toast, sausage, waffles, pancakes, several kinds of cereal... they also have a _lot_ of fruit." Jacob remarked. The two of them got into the line and got their meals, choosing to sit in a corner where there was a small table for two. Lydia served herself scrambled eggs, bacon, and milk whereas Jacob got three pancakes, a banana, a piece of toast, and some milk.

"What do you plan on doing today? I know the cosplay contest is in the evening, but we've still got the whole day to go before that happens." Jacob asked. Lydia hadn't bothered to look at the itinerary for today, having been burnt out from last night.

"I don't know. I'll probably just stick with someone else the whole day. I already got a gift for Gerald, but I guess I could look around the vendor tables and see if there's anything I want for myself. What about you? Did you like that panel you went to last night? It was about animation, right?" She ate some of the eggs as Jacob responded.

"Yeah, it was really great! Animation is a whole lot of work, and while my thing is painting, I think I learned something from it. I haven't really gotten to look at what people have been selling, so I'll probably spend some time looking around there before I go to the arcade." He took a bite from one of the pancakes and unpeeled the banana.

"How long have you been painting?" Lydia asked. Jacob ate some of the banana and washed it down with milk.

"Um, probably since I could walk. My parents used to buy me a lot of different things when I was a baby, trying to figure out what I liked. Yeah, they bought me little plastic baseball bats, some toy cars, plushies, mini computer things, all sorts of stuff. The thing that I liked the most, though, was a set of finger paints they brought home one day. According to my parents I actually started crying once I ran out of paint, and I remember they were always washing paint off of me since I'd get it on me a lot. There's a whole picture album somewhere in my house of both pictures I painted from back then and photos that my parents took of me. I'm pretty sure that one painting of the seahorse on the refrigerator is from like, 2001. It's really old." He took a bite of his toast after he'd finished speaking.

"And you're an only child, too. You never had to share your toys with anyone, did you?" Lydia said.

"Not until I went to preschool. I didn't have problems playing with other kids, at least not that I can remember. I was always pretty good at the arts and crafts stuff, but I looked forward to any opportunity we got to paint something. It wasn't very often, because a bunch of little kids and paint makes for a really messy situation, but I had a lot of fun back then. I was disappointed we didn't get to do those kinds of things as often in elementary school. Sure, we still colored pictures, made things out of dried macaroni shells and glued together pieces of paper to make stuff, but it was never really the same as before. Not to mention we actually had to do homework and take tests and all that stuff. My grades have been average across the board except wherever art was concerned." Jacob grabbed a nearby container of maple syrup and spread some out on top of his pancakes.

The two of them ate in silence for a few minutes before Jacob finished the banana and placed the peel next to the plate of half-eaten pancakes. He made eye contact with Lydia and decided to ask _her_ a question.

"I know you're on the dance team here. I've never gone to the football games, so I've never seen you dance there, but seeing you last night at the rave showed me that you're _really_ into it. If you could, would you make a career out of dancing? I mean, if there was nothing stopping you from doing it." Lydia finished up the last of her meal as she thought about the answer.

 _A career out of dancing? I've... never even considered the possibility. I like doing it, but I always figured it was going to be something that only lasted until the end of high school for me. Where could I even go to do it professionally? ...well, I'm currently in the answer right now. A place like Houston no doubt has that kind of opportunity. I would think I'd have to go into show business or something to really make a career out of it, unless I wanted to become a teacher or coach or something. But still, I don't think I'd want to do it for a living._

"No. You're right, I love to dance. I just don't think I'd want to make it my career. I honestly don't know what I want to do for a living just yet, but I can say with confidence that dancing isn't it." Lydia said. Jacob nodded, looking genuinely interested in the answer.

"Well, whatever you choose to do, I know you'll be amazing at it. I can see it in you - you have this kind of magic spark in your eyes. Anyone that has that inner magic can pull off anything they truly want to." Lydia smiled at his words, surprised at how candid they were. She remembered one of the other guys questioning how he could possibly have landed a girlfriend at all, much less one like Lana. If he was in the habit of speaking like that all the time to girls, it wouldn't be that hard to see why - though the question of why he was with _Lana_ in particular was still up in the air.

"Thanks. You're really sweet." She said to him. Asking him about his ex-girlfriend would have to wait for another time, though. This weekend was supposed to be about fun things, not sad ones.

 **Saturday, Evening - Sunny**

Lydia was back with the full group, Lin included. She had bought something for herself at the vendor tables: a keychain with the design of a silver coin with four crystals - red, blue, green, and yellow - put in at the coin's cardinal directions. She had spent the rest of the day tagging along with Damien and Allie, while Jacob and Nathan had split off to do their own thing, and now it was 7:45 PM. None of them had run into Morgan or her friends, but since they all were headed to the cosplay contest in the main hall in a few minutes, they figured they'd come across them soon enough.

They all headed over to the main hall where the contest was being held, seeing far more people representing various characters from a smorgasbord of franchises both well-known and obscure. Lydia felt like she had stepped into the middle of a comic book crossover with all the different characters that had gathered towards a sectioned-off area of the main hall. Just as she began to wonder where Morgan's group was, Nathan pointed them out as they entered the hall.

"Hey, there they are!"

The six of them walked into the room, drawing the attention of nearby people. Each of them was wearing a sailor suit complete with frills, long gloves, jewelry, and a skirt. Rosalyn, Joanna, and Mariann had suits that were primarily silver, with an insignia of the crescent moon imprinted on the chest. They each had a secondary color on the frills, gloves, and skirt to complement the main silver color of the suit: black for Rosalyn, violet for Joanna, and blue for Mariann. As for the other three, Blair's, Katelyn's, and Morgan's suits were primarily golden with a symbol of the sun imprinted on the chest, with their secondary colors being red, green, and yellow respectively.

Lydia recognized the overall color scheme: three of them were the Lunar Knights, and the other three were the Solar Knights. While she hadn't been born at the time the original series released overseas, the series that followed it retained the same general aesthetic - always six girls, three clad in silver and three clad in gold, each having their own distinct secondary color. Earlier in the day she'd looked up the original cast on her phone; Morgan's group had managed to recreate the outfits to near perfection, dated look and all.

They each had the heavy-looking boots, which went up to the knees for the Lunar Knights but only halfway up for the Solars. Each of them had some of kind of accessory on their head or neck: a tiara, a choker, a necklace, a ribbon, a scarf, or a circlet, all of them a mixture of their primary and secondary colors. In the hands of each girl were replicas of the weapons each of the Knights used: a bow, a whip, a rapier, a hammer, a lance, or a longsword, all colored like the accessories they wore.

"Wow, how long did it take them to put on all that?" Nathan asked as they made their over to the group of cosplayers.

"Oh, at least an hour, if you include the makeup." Damien answered.

"Seriously?"

"Well, I don't know about _literally_ an hour, but do you remember the last time you wore a Halloween costume? Unless you were like, a bedsheet ghost or something, I'm pretty sure it took you a while to put everything together. Plus doing the makeup correctly isn't something you can rush. Yeah, the Lunar Solar makeup isn't really all that complex compared to like, the kind you'd have to do for monster cosplays, but it's still time-consuming." Damien explained.

When the contest officially began, the announcer went over how the cosplayers were to be judged: a combination of points given by expert judges and the reactions of the crowd, weighted equally. Each individual or group would walk down the runway constructed for the contest, and try to appeal to the crowd in the timespan of about a minute. To Lydia, it sounded like a fashion show with a completely different theme than what she was used to seeing. As the contest got underway, it was basically just like that, albeit with a much louder and more casual atmosphere. Dozens of contestants paraded in front of the crowd, many of them saying their characters' catchphrases and trying to earn the favor of both the judges and the crowd.

Two acts in particular drew more applause and attention before it was time for Morgan and her friends to go on. The first was act number 7, which was a young man with long platinum-colored hair dressed in a black leather coat with armored shoulders and two black leather straps covering his exposed chest. He wore knee-high black boots and black pants. The two most notable aspects of his outfit were the single black wing sticking out of his back and the obscenely long foam sword that he carried, one that was at least as tall as he was. He maintained a stony expression as he walked down the runway, and once he reached the larger stage, he reached into a pocket on the coat and pulled out a large, black marble that he raised above himself in full view of the crowd.

Lydia was unsure who that character was supposed to be, but given that even Allie and Damien were excited to see him, he must have been a pretty popular guy. The character certainly seemed like a villain to her, that kind that said little and did a lot.

The second act that stood out above the rest was act number 31, which was a group of five individuals all dressed like they had emerged from different worlds. There were three guys and two girls. The first guy to walk down the runway was in Lydia's mind the stereotypical fantasy hero, wearing blue-and-gold armor with no helmet and wielding a foam sword and shield. He was tall and well-built, and marched down the runway like he was a royal knight, waving at the crowd like he had just slain a dragon for them.

The second guy may as well have been his polar opposite, dressed as the archetypal science hero. He was thin, wore a white lab coat and black rubber boots, and carried with him what appeared to be a set of dual rayguns, holstered and attached to a massive brown backpack by wires. Numerous gadgets, all meticulously crafted to resemble whatever their originals were, hung off of several rings attached to the backpack. To top off the outfit, he wore a set of goggles that were black with green lenses. He appeared to be cautious around the crowd, constantly adjusting his goggles as if he was fiddling with the settings on them to scan the people.

"Who are these guys supposed to be?" Nathan asked. Allie looked at him briefly and said,

"They're the main characters of Versal Collider. It was made about ten years ago; it didn't sell too well, but it was a really good game. Its fans have been hoping for a remake or sequel for a while, but no dice."

"Huh." Nathan said.

The first girl of the group then began her walk down the runway. Lydia could see she was some type of magician, but whether it was the "casts fireballs" type or "performs in Las Vegas" type was unclear to her. She wore a dark purple cape and wielded a black wand with a white tip, but also had a black beret on her head and carried what appeared to be a magic tome in her left hand. She wore a white button-up shirt with a black bowtie and black pants with sparkling purple heels, and seemed to relish the crowd's attention more than the two guys, making flamboyant gestures with her wand and blowing kisses to people as she made her way down.

She was followed by a girl that was her opposite in nearly every way; if Lydia wasn't already aware that it was an act, she would've seriously questioned if she even knew where she was or what she was doing. She seemed to be from a world where people dressed as if they were homeless people from a different planet, wearing a long, teal-colored garment that seemed two sizes too big for her with multiple rips and tears in it, as well as what appeared to be dirt stains on it. This girl had a magenta facial marking in the shape of the letter C on her left cheek. However, to Lydia the most notable aspect of her was the little plush creature she carried in her hands. It was colored like a pastel peach. It was fluffy, almost like a tiny cloud. It didn't seem to have any limbs, and from where Lydia was standing she could make out some kind of face.

The girl stepped forward tentatively, almost scared of the crowd and its noise, until the final member of the group put his hand on her back and helped her move forward. Lydia was surprised to see what he wore: a normal, black business suit, complete with a red tie, white shirt, and classy black shoes. In his breast pocket were several pens, each one a different color. He was almost as tall as the heroic knight, and helped the otherworldly girl walk down the runway to join the others. Once all five of them had gathered on the stage, they all spoke the following lines:

"I think we have finally ventured into your world, my good man!" The knight said, looking towards the businessman. The magician clapped her hands in excitement, pointing her wand at the crowd as she addressed him.

"Oh, my! Is this really _your_ world, Norman? What a gloriously warm welcome!"

"It's... is this normal for visitors?" The otherworldly girl asked, grabbing hold of the businessman's arm and keeping the plush creature clutched close to her chest.

"I do not sense any hostile mutants in the immediate area. I conclude that we are safe, at least for now." The scientist spoke, nodding as he adjusted his goggles once more. The businessman smiled and spoke, saying:

"Yes, this is really where I'm from. This is... the place I call home. Say hello, everyone!"

Lydia could feel the air vibrating around her as the crowd responded and then broke out into cheers immediately afterward as the group's brief moment on stage came to an end. That act was certainly a tough one to follow, and none of the following individuals or groups could quite muster the same level of excitement as the _Versal Collider_ group did, making her think that Morgan and her friends would have their work cut out for them if they wanted to win.

Finally, it came time for Morgan and her group to come on stage, as act number 67. They went down the runway one by one, speaking as they went along. The Lunar Knights were the first to go, with Rosalyn going first, followed by Joanna and then Mariann.

"From the deepest reaches of the night we strike!"

"By the power of the moon, we will vanquish evil!"

"In both darkness and light we shall triumph!"

Next were the Solar Knights, led by Morgan with Katelyn and Blair following behind her.

"On the hour of daybreak we descend!"

"With the strength of the sun, we are the light of justice!"

"Through every rising sun and moon our resolve never wavers!"

Once all six of them had lined up on the stage at the end of the runway, they all assumed a pose: the Lunar Knights on the left and the Solar Knights on the right. Rosalyn, being the tallest of the group, stood at the back with her bow raised to the sky. Joanna faced towards the left, holding her whip out and holding her other hand to her chest. Morgan was on the far right, holding her hammer with both hands next to her face and looking straight ahead. Katelyn was on her right, facing towards the right and pointing the spear diagonally upwards, as if she was about to thrust it into an invisible airborne foe. Mariann was in the middle of the formation, standing back-to-back with Blair and looking forwards, the both of them pointing their swords forward. After they all had taken their positions, the six of them said in unison:

"Together we are... the Lunisolar Knights!"

Lydia's group burst into cheers and applause along the rest of the crowd, the sound filling the room that they were in. Once Morgan's group had left the stage and the rest of the acts came and went, the announcer came back on stage with an index card in her hand. Off to the side were the judges, who had stood up and were holding three different plaques.

"Thank you all so very much for coming! We saw a lot of great acts today, but only three of them stood out above the rest. In third place we have... act number 7! Come on up here!" The young man with silver hair came on stage to receive his award. He remained in character as he accepted it, receiving it with a stony expression on his face and a simple nod to the judges as acknowledgment. He left the stage holding the plaque to his side.

"In second place we have... act number 67! Nice job, ladies!" Morgan and her friends went up on stage, clearly happy to have won an award. Blair was the one who received the award, and the girls cheered amongst themselves in celebration.

"Aw, man. Well, at least they still placed in the top three!" Jacob remarked. Once they had left the stage, the announcer continued.

"And now, the winner of our cosplay contest is... act number 31! Congratulations, all of you!" The five members of the group all came up to receive their award, with the magician girl practically running forward to receive the award from the judges. Lydia noticed the otherworldly girl had lightened up her expressions, suggesting she had broken character, but the way her colleague had eagerly accepted the award made her wonder if the other girl was like that all the time.

"They did good, but I gotta hand it to the Versal Collider guys. They not only picked a really memorable game, but also represented it flawlessly." Damien said, watching the girls leave the stage. Once the contest had finished and everyone began to disperse, the group met up with Morgan and her friends. Morgan was the first to speak about the results of the contest.

"I would've voted for them, too. I never actually got to play Versal Collider until like, last year, but after I did I could definitely see why people hold it up as one of the best games of all time. They just had to pick that game, though... oh well. That's just how it goes."

"Yeah, the moment I saw them in the crowd I figured if they did their act well enough, they'd take first for sure. I have an eye for picking out the winners of cosplay contests. I'm right at least 90% of the time!" Lin remarked, holding up an index finger.

"Second isn't bad, though. I'll take that." Joanna said, looking over at the plaque that Blair was holding.

"So who gets to keep the award? I uh, I guess they couldn't make a whole bunch of them because of all the different groups that were in it, right?" Nathan asked.

"Blair was the one who suggested we participate in the contest here, and she came up with the idea for us to do Lunar Solar, so... we all agreed that if we won something, she'd get to keep it." Mariann answered his question.

"It's not like we don't already live together anyway! We'll see it every day regardless." Katelyn said, grinning.

"Well, the rest of you will see it. I'll at least have all the pictures I took." Atherton said, holding up a camera.

"That just means next year we'll have to do ourselves one better. Also, it's not as if this is the only cosplay competition we've been in this year. I think second at FantasyFlare is pretty good. I look forward to the day we'll have to build a new shelf for all of our awards." Blair said.

"You said you guys were going to the rave later on, right? Guess that means we'll see you there." Damien said, putting his hands behind his head.

"Not all of us, I'm afraid. I think I'd rather stay in tonight, personally." Rosalyn said.

"Yeah, me too. It's been pretty tiring wearing this costume for the better half of the day." Mariann voiced her agreement.

"Eh, I'll show up for a while. If it's good enough I'll stay, if not I'll just head back to the hotel. We still haven't gotten around to doing shots yet." Joanna said, shrugging.

"You know I can't resist a dance party." Morgan said.

"I'm up for some more rave action!" Katelyn added. Damien nodded.

"Okay then. Guess that means we'll see the two of you later. As for me, I'm heading off to the arcade to kill time until the rave starts. Anyone wanna come with?"

"You still haven't faced me in air hockey yet. Allie says you're real good at it, but I want to test that for myself." Nathan said, looking over in the direction of the arcade.

"In any case, we all need to get back to the hotel so we can wind down. I'm sure we'll see you all tomorrow. See you later, everyone!" Blair said. The two groups said goodbye to each other and Lydia's group watched Morgan's head towards the exit nearest the hotel.

"What time is it right now?" Jacob asked.

"9:37. That means we have around twenty minutes or so before the rave starts." Allie responded, looking at her watch. Damien was unfazed by the news, and began to walk in the direction of the arcade.

"Yeah, alright. Sounds good. Should be able to get in a few games against Nathan and whoever else wants to take me on in air hockey. It's not like we gotta be there exactly at 10, anyway!"

"Guess I'll go with you guys, then." Jacob said. Lydia decided to go with them, not really willing to go back to the hotel just to have to come back in a few minutes anyway. The group went to the arcade and watched Damien and Nathan duke it out in several games of air hockey, having decided that whoever won a best of five would win the match. Lin, having already played enough air hockey matches against her brother to have lost interest in seeing him play it any more, decided to go and play a light gun shooter game instead.

"There! I win!" Damien said, pointing to the 7-6 blinking on the digital display above the air hockey table. Their match had gone all the way to the fifth game, and it had been a long, tense one, the both of them being so focused on it that Lydia thought the building could catch on fire and they wouldn't notice. Nathan let go of his paddle and let it slide across the table as the air stopped flowing.

"We're equal. That could have gone either way and you know it." He said, his face a mixture of disappointment and frustration for a second before shifting to a more relaxed expression.

"You're right about that. I thought you were pretty weak after losing 7-2 in the first game, and I thought I had an easy win after going 7-4 over you in the second game, but you almost reverse swept me there." Damien said.

"It's been a while since I've played. Maybe next time it won't be so close." Nathan said, cracking a smile.

"We've still got one more day here. Tomorrow after lunch, you and I will do this all over again. We'll see if it'll be this close again." Damien responded. Allie went over to him and said,

"The rave's already started. We should find your sister so we can get going."

The group found Lin shooting a light gun alongside a tall guy in a brown t-shirt. The two of them were facing off against what appeared to be the final boss of the game, as it was a massive monster with a bunch of eyes that they were targeting with their guns. The monster's eyes began to flicker green, then yellow, and then red before the concentrated fire blew the eyes into bits, making it fall over and die. It was only after the monster was dead that Lin took notice of the group.

"Oh, hey. Finished already?" She asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. Just waiting on you." Damien said. Lin and her partner skipped the ending cutscene and went to the results screen, where the both of them together ranked 8th on the standings for the machine. Lin entered in "AAA" for the initials and left the arcade along with the rest of the group.

When they reached the Hyacinth Ballroom, they found that Morgan and Katelyn were hanging outside by the doors, apparently talking to a couple of guys with flashing bracelets. Morgan's eyes looked to see the group approaching and she acknowledged them by waving at them, which got the guys talking to her and Katelyn to turn around.

"Hey, Morgan, Katelyn. Taking a break?" Lydia asked. Allie placed a hand on her shoulder briefly as she said,

"We're going to go inside. We'll be in the same place we were last time, okay?"

"Alright." Lydia said.

"Yeah, you could say that." Morgan said, watching Lydia's friends go inside the room.

"Ha. This a friend of yours, Luna?" The guy standing directly across from Morgan asked. He was blonde and short, though not as short as Jacob, standing a couple of inches taller than Lydia or Morgan.

"Yeah. This is Lydia. It's her first time going to a convention."

"No kidding? Yeah, alright. I get it. Yeah, now that I look at ya, you have that look. 'fore I forget, though, the name's Josh." He kept his eyes focused on Lydia, even as his companion tapped him on the shoulder.

"Dude, I'm heading in." He was a head taller than Josh, and as he moved towards the doors Katelyn followed him.

"See you guys later!" Katelyn said as both she and Josh's friend went into the room. Josh's eyes had watched the two of them leave, but as soon as they went inside he went straight back to looking at Lydia. Just as Lydia was beginning to feel creeped out by his staring, he spun around and leaned back against the wall next to the door.

"What did you mean by 'that look'?" Lydia asked. Josh blew at the bangs that were covering his face.

"Like, ya seem... tentative. Unfamiliar. Nothin' to be ashamed of, everyone has their first convention at some point." He said. Morgan crossed her arms and leaned back on the wall similar to Josh, except she also put a foot against the wall such that she was standing up on one foot.

"Uh, okay." Lydia responded, unsure of what to think about him.

"Sometimes I get people that come up to me that recognize me from Scrapbook. That's why he's calling me Luna. I really don't mind talking and hanging out with them, as long as they're cool about it." Morgan explained. Lydia had a hard time imagining herself being comfortable with the idea of having a random stranger recognize her and spending time with them just like that.

"You gonna hang out here all night or what, Luna? Thought you were a dancin' machine!" Josh said, looking over at Morgan. She chuckled and pushed at his shoulder.

"I needed some water. But yeah, we ought to get back to the floor. Come on, Lydia! Let's go." Morgan stood up straight and made for the doors with Lydia in tow. Josh smiled, and he blew at his bangs again.

"Right behind y'all."

* * *

 **October 18, 2015 - Sunday, After Midnight - Clear - Day 2 of FantasyFlare**

Lydia woke up to find that the spot where Allie had been was empty. The digital clock read 3:21 AM, prompting her to sit up in the bed and look over to see if Lin was still there. The other girl merely stirred a bit and rolled over. Unwilling to turn on one of the lamps and wake Lin up, Lydia quietly got out of the bed and noticed another couple of details: Allie's glasses were sitting next to the clock and there was no light coming from underneath the bathroom door.

 _Where did she go? Why would she go somewhere without her glasses? She's probably just taking a walk in the hall or something, but... I don't think I'll be able to fall asleep without knowing where she is._

She grabbed her room's card key and slowly opened the door. She was surprised that Allie was right there, standing next to the window and drinking from a glass of water. Allie calmly looked over to her.

"Could you not sleep either?" She asked. Her voice was tired but calm. Seeing Allie without her glasses on made her look older somehow, thought Lydia.

"I didn't think I was going to wake up in the middle of the night." Lydia said, yawning. Allie took a sip from her glass of water.

"You're probably wondering why I left the room, right?" She said. Before Lydia could say anything, Allie brought the glass of water up to her face such that she was looking through the water at the window.

"Bad dreams. I couldn't stay in the darkness of our room, so I filled this cup with water from the bathroom faucet and went out here. I don't know how long I've been here for, but I'm going to guess it's a little less than half an hour. Did you notice what time it was when you woke up?"

"3:21." Lydia responded.

"I see. So it's felt longer than it's really been. It was 3:04 when I woke up." Allie said, drinking some more of her water. The two girls stood there for a few moments, neither of them having anything to say to the other.

"Do you... want to talk about the dreams you had?" Lydia asked tentatively. Allie sighed.

"There isn't much to talk about. I don't understand much of what happened myself. All I remember is being pulled into the darkness by... something. It was like I was being pulled into a black hole, but the dream stopped before the gravity could rip me apart. I couldn't stay in the room, so I got some water and came out here to calm down. I thought that maybe you'd wake up from that. Sorry."

"It's okay. You couldn't help it. It doesn't sound like it's all that common for you." Lydia said.

"It's not. They say you actually dream every time you go to sleep, but most of the time you don't remember what it is you've dreamt. I don't think I dream any more than the average person, but nightmares are pretty rare for me. When they happen, they tend to be pretty shocking for me." Allie said, taking another drink from her glass. Lydia hadn't had a dream that she could remember since moving to Quartz, at least not one that didn't involve Philemon or the Velvet Room. She wondered if Philemon was able to see what people dreamt, being someone who lived between the conscious and unconscious realms.

"I... well, this was a long time ago, but I remember having nightmares a lot when I was younger. It was always about the same thing, too." Lydia's voice grew a little shaky towards the end. She hesitated to continue, finding herself in between wanting to share her experience with Allie and keeping it to herself.

 _It's not like I haven't already told Jacob and F.Z. about it. I can trust Allie. I know I can. I have a feeling everyone else on QIB is going to learn about it sooner or later, so... I should get more comfortable with telling people about it. They're not going to get after me._

"Um, actually... I just realized you don't know about it yet. Only two other people do, Jacob and F.Z." She continued.

"What is it?" Allie asked. Lydia took a deep breath and looked behind her. The hotel hallway was empty, it being the middle of the night, but the idea that someone would come out of one of the rooms or come out of the staircase and overhear made her nervous.

"Um..." She exhaled, knowing it was a baseless fear. It's not like there was anyone else who would even know what she would be talking about here, and it was unlikely anyone would stir at this hour. She looked back at Allie, who had noticed her behavior and was now curious.

"Well, it happened a long time ago anyway. You see... when I was twelve years old, a friend of mine named Alex and I decided to go down the Crystal River on our own. We were kind of... we really liked each other. But we didn't... we underestimated how strong the rapids were and... I lost him." Allie turned around to face her. Lydia paused briefly to see if she was going to say anything and then continued.

"One of the consequences of that was... I relived that moment, a lot. It didn't really go away until... well, until my dad got the job offer that brought us over here." Allie took a drink from her glass of water, taking a moment to process what Lydia had told her.

"You dealt with that for three whole years... I'm sorry." She said. Lydia smiled at her and shook her head.

"It's okay. Like I said, it was a long time ago. But... well, I don't know if you have something like this, but since I was kind of too old to go running to my parents every time I had that nightmare, I... would talk to my old ladybug pillow, Junebug, about whatever was on my mind after I woke up. I used to imagine he would respond, too. He'd say things like 'You don't have to let it weigh you down anymore,' or 'I still think you're a good person,' or 'Alex wanted you to live.' It helped me calm down in the middle of the night." She said. Allie looked down at her glass of water. The water inside rippled ever so slightly with her movements.

"I see. Well... I'm glad you found something that worked for you. I don't think it would work as well for me. I'm really feeling better now, though. Everyone has their own way of coping with nightmares. You had Junebug, and me... well, I turn on a light, get some water, and stay up for a little bit until I'm calm again. I don't have nightmares maybe more than a couple of times a year, so... while it's shocking when it happens, I know more or less how to deal with it." Allie said.

"Oh, but... thank you for coming and talking to me anyway. It's... nice to be able to talk to someone at a time like this." She added, not wanting Lydia to feel like she hadn't helped at all. She continued, saying:

"And thank you for trusting me enough to share that part of yourself with me. I can tell you're very guarded about it." Allie yawned as she finished that sentence. She took another drink of her water and found that it was now more than half empty.

"Looks like you're falling asleep again. You're also..." Lydia began, but was interrupted by a yawn of her own.

"...making me sleepy, too."

"Yeah. I guess we should go back inside now. We still have another day ahead of us." Allie said. She reached into the pocket of her shorts and retrieved her key card, opening the door slowly. She immediately went to the bathroom and turned on its light, where she finished the rest of the water in one go and then placed the cup next to the sink. Lydia climbed back into the bed, where Lin was still facing away from her, having not stirred at all. Allie turned off the light and then went to bed, confident that the nightmares were behind her.

* * *

 **Original upload date: February 26, 2017**

 **A/N: I changed my mind about _The Fragile Veil;_ unless I change my mind again later on, I'm not going to update it anymore. Sorry if you were expecting more from that fic, but that's what I've decided.**

 **So, about this chapter and this little excursion the team's going on: you've probably noticed at least a few of the references I've made to other works in these convention chapters, either by mentioning characters from them without naming the franchise specifically or by making one up that's clearly inspired by something real. I'm sure you probably recognized the actual franchises I've referenced, so let me tell you a bit about the ones that are based on other franchises.**

 **Specifically, Lunar Solar is meant to be a cross between Sailor Moon and Power Rangers. It has the magical girl aspects of Sailor Moon combined with the cycling of cast members and singular continuity of Power Rangers. About the time I got to thinking about the specific outfits for this group, I became aware of the Pretty Cure (or PreCure, if you prefer) franchise and almost considered retailoring them to incorporate the kind of elaborate transformations and outfits from this series, but decided against it because it would have led to several pages' worth of descriptions for a single and relatively unimportant scene. I also think that it would have taken away from the "instantly recognizable to Western audiences" thing that I was going for in-universe.**

 **With regards to the other not-real franchise, Versal Collider, I don't believe I took elements directly from another franchise with this one. Instead I was more inspired by the sentiments around games like Chrono Trigger, which I suppose you could say was its biggest influence, with its big deal being travel across space instead of time. I also feel compelled to name Psychonauts as an influence, despite Versal Collider only having one thing in common with it - that being that both were great games that sold poorly and that spawned fervent cult followings that maintained hope for a sequel even ten years after its initial release.**

 **Also, to my knowledge, none of the books talked about in that panel from the day before are real either, with the same thing going for the authors. No, not even Kyvanna, as odd as she was.** **So that's the deal with those.**


	49. Chapter 45AF

**October 16, 2015 - Sunday, Morning - Sunny - Day 3 of FantasyFlare**

"I kind of think I've had enough of this waiting nonsense." Lydia said, standing in front of the hotel's bathroom mirror as she washed her hands. She looked over at the object she intended to take with her and firmly grasped it before throwing open the door and coming out in a hurry, startling both Allie and Lin.

"Whoa! Lydia, what's wrong?" Allie asked. Lydia ignored her and left the hotel room, leaving both girls at a loss as to what was going on. They both got up from where they were sitting and came out of the room, only to see that Lydia had already disappeared down the stairs. Lin banged on the guys' door. Her brother answered the door.

"Damn, is the hotel on fire or something? Why do you gotta bang so hard on the door?" He said. Nathan and Jacob had stood up and were close behind him.

"Lydia just took off without saying anything. We need to follow her!" Allie said. Damien sighed.

"What the hell, Lydia? Okay, let's go. Hopefully she hasn't gotten too far."

The rest of the group rushed down the stairs and reached the lobby of the hotel where Morgan's friends were waiting by the front desk. They noticed them and Katelyn pointed towards the front door, saying,

"You're looking for Lydia, right? She went towards the convention center! Morgan's chasing after her."

"Yeah, thanks!" Nathan said as he and the others passed by the group on their way out. They ran across the hotel's parking lot and got to the crosswalk, where a line of passing cars were barring them from continuing forward.

"Was she going to be late for something at the convention? Why would she just take off like that?" Jacob asked, nervously fidgeting about as they waited for the cars to stop. Once they did and the group was able to cross, they saw that the people that had gathered in front of the convention entrance were arranged in a huge circle around two girls.

"Move! Those are our friends! I said, move!" Nathan shouted, shoving his way through the crowd and clearing a path through for the group. They were then able to see that the two girls were indeed Lydia and Morgan. Lydia had raised her mirror to the sky, and Morgan seemed to be trying to plead with her.

"I've seen what happens, Morgan. I know the future. And you know what? I can try again, over and over, as many times as I want! Until I get it right, until I get it perfect..." Lydia said, looking down at Morgan with a desperate look on her face. The group rushed towards them, but Lydia seemed to ignore them, only focusing on Morgan instead.

"You... if you do this, there's no telling what could happen! It might just make things worse!" Morgan replied. Lydia shook her head.

"It doesn't matter. If this doesn't work, I'll go back to the beginning." She muttered. She then took her mirror in both hands, shouting loud enough for everyone to hear,

"Now come forth, Ophelia! Let the whole world know the truth of your existence!"

Nathan attempted to leap at Lydia and stop her, but it was too late. She slammed the mirror down into the ground, where it shattered into pieces. A massive plume of blue flame rose from it, as tall as the hotel that they had been staying in. In the full view of everyone present, Ophelia came into being - but she was quite different than the group expected. Her pristine black hair was now jagged at the edges, and she wore a faded, tattered black dress instead of her normal white one. Her eyes had changed from blue to red, and she looked down at the crowd with a mad smile.

"No way. What happened to Ophelia?" Nathan asked as he got up from the ground. The crowd was thrown into a panic by her sudden appearance, with the people scattering in all directions. Some of them remained with their phones out to take pictures or film the encounter. He looked over and saw that Morgan was the only one unfazed by the evil-looking Ophelia's sudden appearance. She had taken a step back and pointed at Lydia, her face cold as ice.

"You crossed a line. Now you'll pay the price." She closed her eyes and put her hands over her chest. A gust of wind blew from underneath her and a purple aura surrounded her, and in an instant another figure flashed into existence across from Ophelia.

The figure was a woman in a long robe that had the colors of the sunset splayed along it. She seemed to be an android of some kind, as her body was made of ivory-colored metal with symbols inscribed all over her. Her face appeared almost entirely human, with shining brown eyes. Her hair was tied up in a bun and was held together by what appeared to be two styluses, one with a tip shining black and the other with a tip shining white. On her cheek was a cursive letter M, written in bright purple paint.

"Behold. Mnemosyne!"

"What the fuck is going on? I thought she didn't _have_ a Persona!" Damien cried.

"What do we do? They look like they're going to fight each other!" Jacob said. Lydia was briefly stunned by the appearance of Morgan's Persona, but quickly regained her composure.

"What do you think you're going to do? It's not like you can cover it up now, you know!" She said. Morgan's icy expression held, and a moment of tense silence passed as everyone awaited her next move. She then started laughing, prompting her Persona to lean back in midair as if she was laying down on a lawn chair.

"Nope! Do the thing, Mnemosyne!" Morgan said, pointing at Lydia. Mnemosyne raised a finger and zapped Lydia with a bolt of lightning, causing a huge cloud of smoke to flood the area they were in. Ophelia immediately faded away and everyone struggled to see what had happened to Lydia. Once the smoke cleared, everyone saw the aftermath: Morgan holding a brown-haired baby wearing a tiny white dress, complete with little white shoes and a small blue bow in her hair.

"Uh, what?!" Nathan shouted, summing up everyone's thoughts on what had just transpired. Morgan giggled, rocking baby Lydia back and forth in her arms. Mnemosyne shrunk down to the size of a fairy and flitted about in front of Lydia, catching her attention and causing her to try and grab at her.

"She's so adorable, isn't she?" She said, speaking to the rest of QIB that was present.

"Why did you... how did you... Morgan, what just _happened?"_ Allie said, trying to comprehend what was going on. In the meantime, whatever people had remained began to draw closer, wanting to confirm what had happened for themselves.

"I changed the future. Lydia made her choice to go into uncharted waters. But her little temper tantrum," Morgan said, her voice turning into baby talk as she looked at the baby she held in her arms.

"It was going to ruin everything! Isn't that right, Lydia White? Tee hee! That rhymed, didn't it? Yes, it did!" Mnemosyne floated over to Morgan's shoulder. Lin went up to her and got a close look at the baby, who was indeed possessed of the same face, hair color, and eye color as the real Lydia. She then spoke to Morgan, saying:

"We are all about to be in more trouble than we can imagine. I seriously hope you have some kind of plan right now, because I have no idea what we're supposed to do." Morgan waved off her complaints, saying,

"It's not a problem. You see, by turning her into a baby, I removed Lydia's sense of self. Without that, she can't perceive or access her Personas anymore!"

"That's not what I meant! What about the police and the media attention and-"

"Oh, right. That. No worries. Here, can you take her?"

"I'll do it!" Jacob said, suddenly appearing beside Lin. Morgan giggled and handed Lydia off to him, where he began to coo over her. She then took Mnemosyne's miniature hand and spun around with her, making her grow until they were both the same size. The two of them stood side by side and raised a hand to the sky. Morgan gave a knowing look to those who were watching, and said:

"And now, let us start the next chapter."

* * *

 **Original upload date: April 1, 2017**

 **A/N: Wondering what the deal is with this chapter? Take a look again at the upload date.**

 **(July 2017 update): Not clicking for you? April 1 is April Fools' Day, a day notorious for pranks and practical jokes. In other words, this is a joke chapter that has no bearing on the canon whatsoever. This is the reason why I did not put a "this is not canon" notice at the top of the chapter like I did with the previous non-canon chapters.**


	50. Chapter 45

**October 18, 2015 - Sunday, Morning - Sunny - Day 3 of FantasyFlare**

"You look like you don't want to leave." Lin remarked to Lydia, who was standing in front of the window of the hotel. The girls had already packed their things to return home, with Damien having already been inside to move all the things Lin bought to their car. Allie was in the guys' room talking to them.

"I feel like I've barely gotten a taste of what the big city is like. I was just beginning to get used to how large Quartz felt, and then I come here... I mean, it's not like I haven't seen pictures of Houston before. But it's nothing compared to being here in person." Lydia responded, continuing to watch people walk in and out of the convention center.

"You're certainly right about that. You think Houston's big? Try New York City. It's something like four times the people in a place that's like, half the size. It's intense if you've never been there before." Lin said, standing between the TV and the bed.

"I couldn't even imagine. I think I might get claustrophobic from being packed in with so many people." Lydia said, trying to imagine the feeling of squeezing through people trying to get on and off of a subway train.

"Oh, if you really want to feel claustrophobic, you should go to Tokyo. The subway attendants literally pack people into the trains there, like sardines in a tin. I eventually want to visit it myself, but I would need a lot more money and time to pull it off. Damien and Allie would probably be up for it. But yeah, that wouldn't happen anytime soon. Not with the craziness we've gotten ourselves into." Lin said. Lydia took a deep breath at the reminder of the otherworldly valley she and the rest of her friends were in the regular habit of going to.

"Yeah." She paused for a moment. Before Lin could say something else, Lydia turned around and made eye contact with her.

"I want to ask you something, since you're kind of distanced from it a little bit. How long do you... think it's going to last?" Lin crossed her arms and shrugged.

"If you guys don't know, what makes you think I would? I'd think you'd be better off asking F.Z., right? F.Z., that's her name?" She answered. Lydia nodded.

"Well, um... sorry, you're right. I guess what I want to ask you is... what do you think is going to happen to us? And by us, I don't just mean QIB. I mean the people of Quartz. The other day, I tried to go into the valley from here and couldn't do it because I was too far away from Quartz. If I had to guess at why that is, it's because whatever's behind the valley in the first place is starting with Quartz and intends to spread its influence once it takes enough people." Lydia said, hoping for a more substantive answer from Lin. Lin took a moment to think before saying something, uncrossing her arms and resting one of her cheeks on her hand.

"If you want my opinion... that place has been getting stronger and smarter ever since you guys started going in there. Even when you saved people, it still gained power. Do you remember when Damien said that thing about this being like every story where the good guys win even if they have to suffer for it?"

"Yeah." Lydia said.

"I don't think it's that simple. Or, I don't know. Maybe it is. But it's really easy to just say something like that without really understanding what it means. I know you guys are already willing to put your lives on the line. It still terrifies me, but I've tried my best to accept that. But we still don't really know what that place is capable of. It's taking two people at a time now, but what happens when it takes three? Four? What if the Idols suddenly decide they don't need to abduct people anymore and just start showing up in our world? I know we can't just sit around and let them do whatever they want, but we've had absolutely zero leads on something that can tell us how to stop them for good. My deepest fear is that we're messing with something that can overwhelm us in an instant if it so desired. It might not be strong enough to do it now, but I have a feeling it'll get to that point someday. And then... I don't know what we'll do." Lin sighed, shaking her head. She adjusted her glasses and crossed her arms again. Lydia couldn't think of anything to say, trying to digest Lin's words herself.

"This really sucks. But... at least we can still _live_ our normal lives. Just like this. Not to mention if it weren't for all of that craziness, it would've been just me, my brother, and Allie up here and we would've had to be much more conservative about our spending. I'm glad you and the other guys could come with us, Lydia. It's always more fun when you have a lot of friends to share it with." Lin continued, managing to crack a smile. Seeing her smile brought a smile to Lydia's face as well.

"Yeah. You're right about that. I don't know if I would even be here right now, in Houston doing something like this, if it weren't for the Idols and the valley." She said. Lin nodded, and then turned around towards the door.

"I guess we ought to get going. The car should've had enough room to fit all of the stuff I got. You know, I'm surprised we haven't seen Arielle at all this whole weekend. She said she was going to be staying with her boyfriend, but I don't know where in Houston he lives. She hasn't responded to any of my texts over the weekend, either."

"Oh. Didn't you say the original plan was that you were going to have her stay in this room with Allie and then you and Damien were going to stay in the other room, and then she went with her boyfriend instead?"

"Yeah. I mean, let me tell you about the relationship Damien and I have with our older sisters. You have to remember that after Arielle was born, my parents had enough difficulty conceiving that they decided to adopt me, and then they ended up conceiving Damien shortly after that anyway. There's this space that exists between us as a result. It always has. It's not a bad thing, exactly, but it means that we aren't quite as close to each other as we are with our nearest siblings. So I'm used to the distance between us. It basically means that I'm not mad or anything that she hasn't contacted me or Damien at all this weekend. Neither is he, although you'd have to ask him yourself exactly how he feels about it. But yeah, we should go. I think everyone's waiting for us." Lin said, turning around and walking towards the door.

"Maybe we'll see her today. We're all going back today, aren't we?" Lydia said, following Lin.

"Arielle doesn't have school in the morning like you do. She's probably going to stay until later. But yeah, you could be right."

* * *

"So, _these_ are the new friends you've made! Pretty good stuff, bro!" Arielle spoke, giving her younger brother a thumbs up. She was wearing a black tank top with a fancy heart shape outlined in white on it, and tightly-fitting blue jeans along with casual red flats. Lydia wasn't sure what to expect from her, as neither Damien nor Lin really spoke all that much about either her or Kira, but she was sure of one thing: there was absolutely no mistaking that this girl was Damien's older sister. Although the age difference was noticeable, they were basically opposite-gender mirrors of each other. She wondered what Kira must have looked like.

"Yeah. Where's your boyfriend?" Damien asked. The group had found Arielle by herself hanging out near the edge of the vendor tables, chatting up one of the vendors.

"Jack's in the restroom right now. He left just before you guys showed up. So, what'd you guys think of the con? I personally thought it was pretty good, especially this year." She asked the group, primarily addressing the newcomers. Nathan decided to answer first.

"Really good! I liked it. I think they have more of them during the year, right?" He said. Arielle pointed and winked at him.

"You betcha, big boy. But there's a season for these things, and it's about to come to an end. All the holidays in the next two months means you won't really see any more con action until next year, but there's no doubt you could find events like this one several times throughout the year." Arielle responded.

"Uh, okay." Nathan said, scratching the back of his head.

"What about you, Jacob? You look like you had a good time." Arielle said, turning her attention to the boy that was shorter than she was. He nodded in response.

"Yeah, it was awesome! I definitely want to come back again next year."

"And then..." Arielle said, spinning on her heel to face Lydia.

"There's you. Miss New Girl Lydia. What about you? Has the big city been too much for a country girl like you, or have you taken to the crowds like a duck takes to water?" She asked her. Lydia was about to open her mouth when Arielle interrupted her.

"No, wait. Let me guess. Don't say _a word._ " Lydia stopped, feeling a bit flustered. Arielle's gaze was piercing, as if she was attempting to see into the depths of her soul. This made her look over at Damien and Lin, who seemed less than amused at their sister's antics.

"Oh come on, Arielle. Stop it. You're making her feel uncomfortable." Damien said. Arielle completely ignored him, continuing to stare at Lydia for a few more seconds until she snapped her fingers and said,

"I got it. You... are totally an enigma! I wasn't able to get a single thing out of you! But hey, you don't look like you hated the experience, so that means you probably liked it at least a little. Still, though... it's not often I can't see _anything._ That means you must be resistant to hypnosis or something."

"What does hypnosis have to do with staring people down? Is that what you're into now?" Lin asked, drawing her sister's attention.

"She tends to jump from thing to thing, like they're fads. The only constant with her is that she likes talking about whatever new thing she's come across with whoever has functioning ears, and she'd pull out her phone and use text messaging for those who don't." Damien said.

"And what about you two? Didja get what you wanted out of this con?" Arielle asked her younger siblings. Damien smiled and put his hands behind his head.

"Oh, yeah. Though Otaku 2.0 over here bought so much stuff she made me carry it around. Even made me stuff it all in the trunk of our car." Arielle giggled and held one of her hands up.

"What else are little brothers for if not to help their sisters carry their things?" Lin gave her a high-five. Lydia couldn't help but laugh at the suggestion, as it made her think of Gerald. Arielle noticed Lydia's reaction and looked over at her.

"You know what I'm talking about, right? But hey, where _is_ your brother, Lydia?" She asked.

"Um... by the time he learned about it, we'd already made the hotel reservations." Lydia responded. She still felt bad about not inviting him before finalizing the reservations, even though Damien had kind of sprung it on her on very short notice.

"Oh, okay." Arielle said.

"So uh, if Lin's Otaku 2.0, then I guess that means you're 1.0? But don't you guys have another sister?" Nathan asked. Arielle turned her attention to Nathan.

"Kira's a total drag. Hardly any fun at all these days. All wrapped up in her lawyer duties, so she never has any time for herself. I invited her to come just like I always do, but I got the same response as always: 'The time I could spend at events like that are better off spent trying to further my career.' She's one of those that will run herself ragged in her 20s and 30s in the hopes of getting an early retirement. Can't say I like or even agree with it, but that's Kira for you." She explained.

"That's also why we barely ever see her. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, that's it." Damien added.

"Man. So kinda like my brothers now, then. But they're not going to be lawyers. They haven't even graduated from college yet, so..." Nathan said.

"Sooooo..." Arielle continued on from what he was saying,

"What are you guys gonna do today? This _is_ the last day of the convention, after all."

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I've got a score to settle with Damien." Nathan said, looking expectantly over at Damien. Damien grinned, looking back at him.

"I'll show you that my win yesterday wasn't just a fluke. Anyone want to come and watch?" He said. Allie shook her head.

"Take a picture of the scoreboard when it's over. There's an analysis on the philosophical stuff explored in _Last Words of the Damned_ starting in 15 minutes and I don't want to miss it." She said, adjusting her glasses.

"Oh, you were going to go there too? Well, I guess _these words of chance that intersect illuminate the threads of fate that connect us,_ don't they?" Arielle said, putting her hands on her hips. Allie chuckled at what she said and Damien rolled his eyes, leaving the others to deduce that it was probably a reference to the work Allie just mentioned.

" _And should fate be that which is immutable, we are all naught but puppets who delude themselves into thinking we make a single move without strings pulling us to and fro._ " A new voice spoke, causing everyone to turn towards its source: a young man as tall as Nathan with dark brown hair and well-trimmed facial hair. He was wearing a black leather jacket and dark skinny jeans, and had his wallet on a chain that was hooked to one of his belt loops.

"Oh, Jack! There you are. These are all the friends my darling little bro has managed to make since the year started. It's their first con." Arielle said, gesturing towards Nathan, Jacob, and Lydia. Jack nodded in their direction.

"Nice. But I heard you quoting _Last Words_ just now. Looking forward to breaking it down with the rest of the eternally damned, aren't we?" He asked, smiling as he crossed his arms.

"Allie's going there too." Arielle explained.

"I see. Good stuff, then. Well? I think we'd best be going, right? You know how I hate sitting in the back." Jack said, gesturing with his head in the direction of the room the event was going to take place in.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Allie! You should come with us. I'm pretty sure we can find a space for three over there. It won't be _that_ crowded." Arielle said as she nudged her boyfriend. The two of them began to walk away, and Allie followed them, saying,

"Okay. I'll see the rest of you later."

"We know where _we're_ going, but what about you two?" Damien asked of Lydia and Jacob. They looked at each other with the same puzzled expression before looking back at him.

"I don't know. I mean..."

"I hadn't been able to decide yet."

The both of them spoke over each other. Damien shrugged.

"You guys can do whatever you want. Pretty sure you could still catch up with Allie and Arielle if you wanted to see what that was about, but I doubt it'd be all that fun if you haven't watched the show. You _could_ come and watch our air hockey match. It'd be nice to have witnesses." He said.

"Or you could come with me. Since I've already bought everything I've had my eye on, I was going to head to a Lunar Solar fan event." Lin said. While Lydia was considering what to do, Jacob spoke up.

"I was saying that there were two things going on at the same time that I hadn't been able to choose between: the use of colors as a thematic element in visual media or a panel with the people who do the voices for one of my favorite abridged series."

"Oh, was that... Team Saber Orion? The people who do _Fortune's Roulette Abridged,_ right?" Lin asked.

"Yeah. I used to watch _Fortune's Roulette_ a lot when I was a kid. Team Saber Orion's made like, a whole new show out of it. I remember it being super serious and all focused on luck and gunplay, and then they went and turned that seriousness completely on its head." Jacob explained.

"But uh, you said you also wanted to go to that color thing? I guess it'd help you with your painting, right?" Nathan asked.

"Well, yeah, that's mostly why I wanted to go to that one. But it's not just about my painting. I think I'd be more likely to notice how color's used in movies, TV shows, videos, all that stuff, if I went to it. I just... hey, Lydia? Which one do you think I should go to?" Jacob turned to ask her. Lydia blinked, not expecting the question.

"Um... well..." She took a moment to consider it.

 _They're all splitting up again. I've never heard of the show Allie and Arielle have seen, and I already watched Damien and Nathan play air hockey yesterday. Lin's event could be really fun, even if I haven't really seen that much Lunar Solar. And then Jacob's asking me which event he should go to. Fortune's Roulette, from what little I know about it, was an anime known for its over-the-top gun battles and emphasis on luck and probability. I don't really know what an abridged series is, but Jacob makes it sound like a gag fan edit. The color event sounds interesting, but he'd probably have more fun at the panel._

"Whichever one you'd enjoy more, I guess." She ended up saying.

"I didn't know you were into _Fortune's Roulette,_ dude! You should definitely hit up their panel. They're hilarious. I'd go again if I hadn't already been to their panels a bunch of times already." Damien said, catching Jacob's attention.

"Oh. Okay! Then I guess I know where I'm going. But... what are _you_ doing, Lydia?" Jacob asked. A thought struck her mind suddenly.

 _This is my last day here, probably for a long time. It's been fun enjoying the events with my friends, but now, just this once... I want to go it alone._

"I'll figure something out. I'm going to go do my own thing for a while. Don't worry, I won't get myself into any trouble." She said.

"Alright. So I guess we're meeting here for lunch, or what?" Damien asked.

The group agreed to meet in the same spot to figure out what they were going to do for lunch. Everyone went their separate ways, leaving Lydia to her own devices. She hadn't planned on going to any of the events, and felt that going to one right now would be counterproductive to what she intended to do: walk around the convention center and just take in all the scenery by herself.

The building was still full of people, some in costume but most wearing regular clothing. It was easily as big as the entire Halborne Mall, holding thousands of people at once. Lydia took out her itinerary just to be able to connect the rooms with their respective events and see what kind of people were there: fan-run events like the one Lin went to were considerably energetic, even if they didn't exactly manage to fill a room. The more cerebral events like the color-based one Jacob had considered attending were sparse in comparison, being relatively quiet affairs where the only audible voice was typically the presenter.

She passed by the Hyacinth Ballroom once more, which as of this moment was not being used for anything. She decided to take a look inside and noticed that while there were a few people here talking amongst themselves, it was indeed an enormously empty room now.

 _This place... seeing it lit up normally makes its emptiness feel that much more powerful. It reminds me of the practice room back at school, except I don't see any mirrors here. And it's... I wonder if my entire school from Crystal Rapids could fit in this room._

She walked towards the middle of the room, wanting to feel the space surround her in its entirety. A few people noticed her, but she ignored them.

 _Even though there are people here, there's... something unsettling about a room this big being so empty. I remember being here just yesterday, dancing at the rave. The room was big then, but the darkness and the flashing lights obscured how big it really was. It almost feels like an entirely different room now._

Lydia turned around and slowly walked back to the doors, taking the time to bask in the emotions the nearly-empty Hyacinth Ballroom was giving her. When she left, she was compelled to find something that would give her the opposite extreme of feeling, and so she looked for the closest exit from the convention center. It happened to be on the eastern side, emptying into a massive parking lot. Lydia walked out into the sunlight and beheld the sight of hundreds of cars, all arranged in lines that stretched out for hundreds of yards in front of her.

It wasn't terribly noisy, but it was close enough to scratch the itch she had.

 _There are more cars here in this parking lot than I can count. I know there are thousands of people here, and that they had to have come here somehow, but... still. All these cars, all these people show just how full of life this city is. I don't think I could ever be bored living in a place like this. It makes it easy to want to just forget I ever lived anywhere else._

As it stood, though, staring at a bunch of parked cars and people coming and going from them wasn't all that interesting after a few minutes. So Lydia went back inside, noticing that it'd only been about half an hour since the group split up. She'd have to find something else to do until lunchtime, which was still another half hour away.

She then remembered that she hadn't updated Tori or Lynne on how the convention had been going since the first day. Tori was almost certainly at church right now, if she hadn't gone earlier in the morning, but she would definitely appreciate more pictures of the convention. And as for Lynne, the last thing the two of them had talked about was who she was taking to the homecoming dance. Lydia decided to make another loop around all the places she had been previously, taking pictures of herself standing by various places in and around the convention center so she could send them to Tori.

"Sorry for not sending you anything the other day. I guess I've been having too much fun." She wrote in a text to Tori as she sent her the pictures. As she waited for her to respond, she tried of think of something to talk to Lynne about. She was standing by a wall wondering what she could text her when another idea occurred to her: those two were not the only people from school she had the number of.

There was still Carla.

 _She's friends with Morgan. I had forgotten about that. They honestly don't seem like the type of people that would get along, but then again, Morgan **is** in the student council, so... maybe they met each other by chance and hit it off. Oh, but I bet Morgan has been talking to her all weekend. Carla seemed pretty familiar with Morgan's cosplaying and Scrapbook postings. I don't think she'd want me sending her even more material from there. I guess a text will have to do._

"Hey. What's going on?" Lydia texted to Carla. She was startled when there was a response not less than a minute later.

"Well, it's about time you talked to me. What's kept you so busy?"

"I've been at the FantasyFlare convention in Houston." Lydia texted back. Unlike Tori or Lynne, Carla's responses were prompt and rapid, as if her full attention was devoted to her phone.

"You're there? Seriously? Did Morgan rope you into going?"

"No. My friends invited me to go long before I even met Morgan."

"Right, I forgot. The geek not-a-couple. Well. I didn't think you'd be the type to care about that stuff. You get more interesting every time we talk!"

"Not-a-couple? You mean Allie and Damien?" Lydia thought that was an oddly specific way to refer to them.

"Yeah, those two. I'm not gonna claim I'm best buds with them or anything, but I've seen their type before. I'd bet you $100 one of them falls for the other by the end of the year and call double or nothing on them doing the nasty." Lydia looked around to see if either of them were nearby, irrationally worried that they'd somehow see the message. Carla sure wasn't one to pull any punches in person, and that didn't change at all over text.

"Well, back up." She continued, not letting Lydia think of something to say.

"I'd say that only if you don't steal him first." Whatever Lydia was thinking of previously, it had been kicked out of her mind and replaced with indignation. She quickly replied back, saying,

"What kind of girl do you think I am?! I'd never do that!" As if anticipating those very words, Carla's response came almost too fast to be humanly possible.

"Of course not, right? I just had to make sure lol."

Lydia put through another text in the same swift manner.

"They're just friends. It's not like that." She must have intercepted whatever Carla was about to say, as it took her a full thirty seconds to get back to her after that.

"Alright. Hey, it's not like I care whether they do it or not. They're not my friends. So do you actually like FantasyFlare? What did you do there?" And about as quickly as she had brought it up, Carla dropped it. Lydia frowned, beginning to realize that Carla had probably just said what she did in order to gauge Lydia's reaction to it. It was that kind of intelligent manipulation that made her glad that Carla wasn't interested in hurting her, because she could certainly do so if she was so inclined.

Lydia told her about what she did at the convention. Carla was hardly interested in the minutiae, saying that she had heard about most of these sorts of things from Morgan in the past. It made Lydia wonder why she even bothered asking.

"Yeah, alright. Hey, let me ask you something. Have you found a date to the homecoming dance yet?" Carla texted.

"No, not yet." Lydia responded. For being at the school for nearly two months already, she hadn't really gotten to know very many people outside of QIB. She wondered if Carla would pressure her into having a date, or recommend someone as a date.

"Let me know who you pick if you pick anybody."

"Why do you want to know?"

"Why? Doesn't everybody ask who's going with who before a dance? Listen, I'm not gonna do anything to him. Or you. Not worth it, remember?" Carla responded. Lydia exhaled, remembering what she had said about why she wasn't going to go out of her way to harass her. She looked at the time displayed at the top of her phone and saw that it was almost time to meet back up again.

"Yeah. Sorry. No, I don't know yet. When I decide I'll tell you." She texted.

"Ok. FYI I'm still figuring it out myself. Probably won't be someone from this school though." Carla responded.

"Alright. Gotta go." Lydia texted back.

"Ok. See you at school."

 **Sunday, Afternoon - Sunny**

"Well, there's one thing we haven't done yet that we need to do. Arielle! Can you take a picture of us?" Lin asked her older sister, who was standing nearby. The group was assembled in the same spot that they were in the morning. While Arielle and her boyfriend intended to stay until the very end of the convention, QIB had to leave early due to their travel time and need to go back to school tomorrow. They had invited Morgan to be in their picture, but she had already made plans to attend another event with her own friends and instead wished them well, wanting to see the pictures later.

"Sure! No problem, little sis." Lin handed Arielle her phone.

"Wait. Give that to Jack. I'll give you my camera. It's a lot better than a phone camera." Allie said, retrieving a digital camera from her purse. After setting it up, she gave it to Arielle, who had handed off Lin's phone to Jack.

"Y'okay." She said, pointing the camera in the direction. QIB arranged themselves for the picture, putting Nathan and Damien in the back while the girls and Jacob stood in front of them. Arielle spoke once they had assembled themselves.

"Alright! On the count of three! Uno. Deux. Three!"

They took several pictures, from standard-looking ones to one where everyone tried to do something silly: Damien pretended to steal Allie and Lin's glasses from them with the girls trying to snatch them back from him, Nathan and Jacob both made ridiculous poses, and Lydia was in the middle of them all winking and sticking out her tongue, making a gesture with her hands that appeared to say "What can you say? That's just how we are!"

Once they were done, Arielle turned to address the group once last time before they left for home.

"So, looks like this is where we part ways for now. We probably won't see each other again for a while, but it was definitely nice to meet you guys – Nathan, Jacob, Lydia. I hope to see you guys here again next year. Maybe we'll even see each other at some other con before then, even!"

"Yeah! I hope so, too." Jacob responded.

"Sure. Uh, that'd be nice." Nathan said.

"I'm not going to say no to doing something like this again." Lydia said.

"And as for you three," Arielle continued, this time focusing on her siblings and Allie,

"Don't be a stranger to me. Especially you two, little bro and little sis. We're not so far away from each other that we can't hang out every now and then. You have my number. Don't be afraid to call me or text me."

"Yeah, I know." Damien said.

"Duly noted, Otaku 1.0." Lin said. Arielle laughed at the nickname.

"You've performed admirably in your expected duties as my successor, Otaku 2.0. Keep up the good work." She said in a faux serious manner.

"But yeah, we need to get going. If we wait any longer the traffic's going to be crazy." Lin said.

"Okay. Goodbye, everyone!"

Everyone said goodbye to Arielle and her boyfriend as they left the convention center. From there, they left the hotel's parking lot and finally made their way back home. Lydia went with Nathan as she had done so before, and the two of them talked as they maintained their position behind Lin as she led them back to Quartz.

"I hope I get to come back here soon. I feel like we barely even scratched the surface here." Lydia said as they were beginning to leave Houston.

"Yeah. Maybe one of these days we'll come back and explore. There's tons of things to do and I certainly haven't done 'em all." Nathan said.

"Probably not anytime soon, though. We've got... a lot to deal with back in Quartz." Lydia said, looking ahead of the cars in the direction of Quartz.

"Yeah. Not just the whole QIB stuff, but we've also got the homecoming dance in a couple of weeks. I don't have a date, but that's no big deal. I can still have fun just dancing, even though I'm not really any good at it. You're gonna go too, right?" Nathan said.

"Mm-hmm." Lydia answered.

"Anyone asked you out yet? Maybe one of the football guys? I know before I quit, some of them were interested in taking a cheerleader or a dancer." Nathan asked.

"No. But now that you say that, I'm going to get offers left and right." Lydia answered, chuckling.

"I mean, you _are_ the new girl in town. You got that working in your favor."

"I guess. I haven't actually gotten to know very many people besides you guys, though. I don't know that I'd say yes to some guy I don't know." She said.

"Are you okay not having a date?" He asked.

"Um..." Lydia thought about that. There wasn't anything _wrong_ with it, and Nathan was certainly not bothered about going stag. But she couldn't say she was fine with it herself, and found herself unable to articulate precisely why.

"Hmm." She muttered, not wanting to answer his question anymore.

"Uh... I mean, if you want a date, that's fine and all. And this is just an idea, but uh, maybe _you_ could ask a guy out if no one approaches you." Nathan said, scratching his head briefly before putting his hand back on the steering wheel. Lydia blinked, turning her head over to look over at him. He noticed this and said,

"I mean, I know it's supposed to be the guy that asks and whatever, and I know there's this thing called a Sadie Hawkins Dance where it's the opposite, but... I mean, you're like this kickass Persona-user, right? I just thought since you're the leader of QIB and all, that you'd have no problem with uh, asking out a guy."

Lydia took a deep breath.

"It's... well, the only thing is that I haven't really thought about who I'd want to have as a date yet. And like I said before, I don't really know that many people outside of QIB, so... if anything, I'd probably end up asking one of you guys out."

"Oh. Yeah, that's cool. I know I just said I don't mind _not_ having a date, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna say no to it either. So... guess I'm saying I'm available, is all." He said.

"Okay. Yeah, I still need some time to think about it." Lydia said.

The two of them largely kept to themselves on the ride home, occasionally talking to each other about school or other things that came to them. Nathan dropped Lydia off at her house and she went back inside, where her family was eagerly waiting for her. She gave Gerald the poster she bought him, and proceeded to spend the rest of the night with her family telling them about the experience before going to bed early due to feeling tired from the long day.

 **Sunday, Evening – Clear**

Lydia lay in bed looking up at the ceiling, seeing the light from the lamppost in the street her house faced giving the room a dim lighting scheme. She had a curtain to block it out if she wanted to, but tonight she wanted to let the warm, orange light come in.

 _Back to normal life starting tomorrow. Well, I guess what passes for normal for us. We'll have to squeeze in a training session between now and the dance in two weeks. If we wait too long, there won't be enough time to get ready for the stuff happening at the end of the month. We'll probably go in there at the end of this week. I'm sure F.Z. will be happy to see us. I wonder what she would want to wear to a dance. She might deny wanting to go, but I think I know her well enough now to see through that._

 _Oh, and then there's finding a date. Maybe a date will find me first, but I doubt it. Nathan said he was available. I'll have to see if Damien isn't already going with someone. And Jacob... I don't know about him. He might not want to have a date because of Lana. But maybe he's over her completely now. I don't know. That's not something I can just ask him. I'll have to play it by ear. Well, all of that will have to wait until tomorrow, because tonight... I'm going to fall asleep by the light of this lamppost. Good night, Junebug._

* * *

 **Original upload date: April 29, 2017**

 **SakuraDreamerz - Thanks for keeping up with the story. If I were a game developer, perhaps Versal Collider _would_ be a real thing, but that's not my niche, unfortunately.**

 **A/N: And after... exactly seven and a half months of real-world time, FantasyFlare is finally _over._ Maybe now I can actually put out updates more often than once or twice a month. By the way, I finished Persona 5. Superb game. It adds some very useful information to the overarching lore of the series that I might actually have to consider for this story. I don't foresee it changing any important plot points, although it might change some of the details.**


	51. Chapter 46

**October 19, 2015 - Monday, Early Morning - Cloudy**

According to the weather forecast, another cold front was headed into the area around the middle of the next week. It would bring with it not only colder temperatures, but also lots of rain. Lydia had informed everyone that they'd be going into the valley next Saturday, and this morning she felt like stopping by the valley to talk to F.Z. for a little bit before getting ready for school.

"F.Z.! Are you out there?" Lydia said, which drew the girl out from the winds.

"Hey. What's up? How was the convention?" She asked. Lydia looked up and noticed that the sky was still partly cloudy, though there did seem to be a few more clouds than before. She told F.Z. all about the convention, including the events she went to, the raves, and meeting Morgan's friends and Damien's other older sister.

"Well, damn. You should've brought me something!" F.Z. said. Before Lydia could say something, though, she said,

"Nah, don't worry about it. It's not like I actually asked you for anything. Besides, there's not much I could do with it since I don't really have a place to put anything. So, you guys are gonna come in here on Saturday, and it's Monday before school starts in the real world. Not that that means all that much to me. The sun still doesn't move, but at least I have these clouds to look at now."

"I don't know if I've asked this before, F.Z., but... can you sleep? Or eat, or...?"

"Nope. Can't sleep. Tried that already. And yeah, I've tried nibbling on the grass before. I can tear it up and chew it with my teeth, but it'll just phase through me when I swallow. There isn't any water around here, but I'm pretty sure the same thing would happen with that too. Oh, but at least I can't get periods either, which is probably the only really good thing about being dead. I don't sweat, uh... I also can't get _tired,_ really, unless I actually get hurt by something. Still, there's a reason I stick to the winds most of the time when you guys aren't here, and that's because it's really. Fucking. Boring. Being in the winds is the closest I can come to falling asleep, since I can only sort of touch what I come across without seeing, hearing, or otherwise feeling." F.Z. explained. She briefly turned into the wind, went through Lydia, and reappeared behind her.

"I've done it long enough that I could memorize who you are just by how you feel in the winds. Doesn't help too much in navigation though, since every dungeon's different and just feeling something doesn't tell me what it is every time. But enough about me. You also said you were gonna go to the homecoming dance at Fulton at the end of the month, right? Who are you gonna go with?" F.Z. asked. Lydia let out a breath.

"I don't know yet. So, the truth is that I haven't really gotten to know very many people at school that aren't part of QIB. I'd feel more comfortable going with somebody I already know, and I think you can count on one hand the number of guys I know." She said.

"Doesn't seem like a problem to me. Makes it easier to choose, right? Or I guess, makes the wait easier? I dunno, were you hoping someone would ask you first or what?" F.Z. said, creating a quartz chair for herself to sit on. She asked if Lydia wanted one as well and she said yes, so F.Z. also decided to make a quartz table for them to sit across from one another at.

"It's... I don't know. I _hope_ I get asked first, but I really want to have a date to this dance. So if no one asks me by Friday, I'll go ahead and ask one of the QIB guys. Nathan said he was available, so I can count on him being there for me." Lydia said, wondering if either Damien or Jacob would want to ask her out. Carla's thoughts on Damien and Allie echoed in her mind, making her bristle at the implications briefly before she put them out of her mind.

"So he's not your first choice, then. Don't blame ya. The guy's not exactly Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome. One out of three ain't good enough for me. If it were me, I wouldn't pick any of the QIB guys. They're not my type. Well, not that I'd give that much of a shit about having a date to a dance anyway. I'd probably be more likely to have fun with my girls than with some guy I'd probably have to drag around. He probably wouldn't even come!" F.Z. said, shrugging before conjuring a piece of quartz to twirl around in her fingers. Lydia hadn't said that Nathan _wasn't_ her first choice, but F.Z. had managed to make a correct assumption anyway.

"Yeah, I figured having a date wouldn't matter that much to you. I guess I'm just more traditional that way." Lydia responded. There was a brief moment of silence before F.Z. decided to start carving something in the table with the piece of quartz she held. Lydia smiled as she thought of the next thing to say to her.

"None of the QIB guys are your type, right? So... who _is_ your type? Is it Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome?" Lydia asked. F.Z. stopped where she was in her carving, and hesitated as she tried to come up with a response.

"I... damn it. Did I just..." Lydia expected her to be embarrassed or shy, but instead F.Z. looked like she was trying hard to focus on something.

"What's wrong? Oh! Is it... are you remembering something new?" Lydia asked. F.Z.'s eyes opened wide, and she dropped her quartz piece on the table.

"No fucking way. Me? I... holy shit." A smile began to take over F.Z.'s visage, blooming into a grin and then into full-on laughter. Lydia was unsure what to say or what to think, so instead she smiled back at F.Z. and hoped her reaction wasn't about to turn negative.

"You better not tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, Lydia. You got that?" She said, pointing her finger at her. Lydia nodded, her own smile widening.

"Okay. Alright. So, you're right. I remembered something just now. It's... I guess I can't be all _that_ surprised, since I was a few months short of 15, but... I remember I liked someone. And not just that, but..." F.Z. broke out laughing, grabbing the quartz piece and jamming it into the table.

"...I still can't believe it. Um, so, like... I... had a boyfriend." She said the last words quietly, her eyes moving back and forth between Lydia and the table.

"How the _fuck_ did _that_ happen?" F.Z. asked, unable to keep herself from laughing. Lydia found herself laughing along with her, and earnestly wondered what kind of guy she would've called her boyfriend.

"I don't know! You tell me." Lydia said, eager to hear more now. F.Z. created a quartz fan to fan herself with, and tried to calm herself before explaining.

"So... it's not like I remember everything about him or how it happened. But it was in my last year of middle school. I think it was... it was already spring, because Easter had happened already. So, as much as people stayed away from me in middle school, there were a couple people who were willing to talk to me. Quinn was one of them."

"His name is Quinn?" Lydia asked, wanting to be sure. F.Z. suppressed another laughing fit and nodded.

"Y-yeah. Quinn Crawford. Damn, that name is white as hell. But yeah, that's his name. I remember he was kind of like me; nobody really wanted to talk to him, either. He used to get picked on until he beat the crap out of his bullies and then they left him alone. That was earlier in the school year, before Christmas. I... remember meeting him. I heard what he did and wondered if he'd be willing to talk to me. He was, and... I guess we thought of each other as more than just friends at some point, because... yeah. He was... the one I got my first kiss from. That much I remember." F.Z. sighed, shaking her head in disbelief. Lydia wanted to squee at F.Z. recounting such a memory, but restrained herself.

"Don't give me that look. I know what you want to do. Don't hold it in. It just makes it even more awkward." F.Z. said, seeing how Lydia was so very obviously not trying to squee. So she did, and F.Z. felt the biggest blush she could remember having since landing in the valley.

"Remember, don't say anything to _anyone_ about this. Okay?" F.Z. muttered, crossing her arms.

"Uh huh! Don't worry. I won't tell a soul!" Lydia responded, still giddy. F.Z. sighed again, and fanned herself to try and cool down.

"But you know what? Quinn probably thinks I'm dead. Which I am! I'm actually dead!" She said, continuing to fan herself. Her change of tone from bashful to agitated got Lydia to also calm down.

"So... I mean, it doesn't matter that he was my first boyfriend. He's moved on like anybody _would!_ Which means, even if I somehow manage to get out of here, my first relationship is already over! Gone before it could really _go anywhere!_ " F.Z. said, growing angrier. Lydia could feel the quartz chair and table beginning to weaken, and so she stood up. F.Z. could tell this was happening herself and as soon as she saw Lydia was standing, she crushed the edge of the table with her hand, causing the table and chairs to crumble into dust.

"Why is it that every time I _remember something,_ it just ends up making me feel like shit? I've been gaining memories ever since I met you. I thought I'd be happier knowing who I was, but... I just keep getting reminded of things I don't have anymore, things I'll never be able to get back." Rather than fly into a rage as Lydia would've expected, F.Z.'s voice peaked and then began to dip into a resigned, jaded tone. She approached her, trying to think of something to say to make her feel better.

"Maybe if we defeat the Idols, we can find a way to return you to the real world. Or... if we can't do that, maybe we could put you to rest. Or..." Lydia began to say, but F.Z. put a hand up to stop her, shaking her head.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. We still haven't tried everything yet. Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt." She said. She sighed, and then looked up to meet Lydia's eyes with her own.

"I want to be alone for a while, okay? You can come back after you're done with school or whatever, but right now I need to be by myself. I've probably made you late already, so..." She said as she brandished a quartz dagger and tore open a portal for Lydia.

"Go. And don't feel like you gotta get back here ASAP. If something comes up and you can't come back 'til later, don't get upset over it. But... I'd like it if you came back before the next training session."

Lydia nodded. She approached the portal and F.Z., briefly turning to the younger girl and saying,

"Give me a hug." F.Z. resisted rolling her eyes. She sighed again, and then reluctantly accepted Lydia's embrace.

"See you later, F.Z." Lydia said before returning to the real world.

* * *

 **October 20, 2015 - Tuesday, Early Morning - Sunny**

"So, Quinn must be going to one of the high schools in the city, right?" Lydia asked F.Z. She had been swamped with homework yesterday and was unable to return to the valley until this morning. F.Z. shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess he would. He'd be a freshman just like I'd be if I was still alive."

"Do you know which school he would've gone to? If it's Fulton, maybe we can try to find him and ask him what your name is." Lydia said, which made F.Z. perk up.

"It's not your school. I would've remembered him saying something like that. Fulton is a new school, but before that there were only two: Quartz West and Quartz East. He lives closer to West, so I'm guessing that's where he is now. Maybe someone in QIB knows someone who goes there." F.Z. said.

"I don't know. I've never heard any of them talk about Quartz West before. I think Lynne mentioned to me that Rory goes to Quartz _East,_ but he's not exactly on our side anyways, so even if he did go to the same school as Quinn, I don't think I could ask him to do anything. But if he was going to go to West, then maybe you would have too? Maybe that might help us figure out your name. We could find your dad in a phone book or something." Lydia suggested. F.Z. shook her head.

"No, don't do that. My dad probably wouldn't like some random girl calling him about his missing daughter. You can't exactly explain what really happened to me to anybody who hasn't already been here, remember? If you called him, he'd demand to know just that, and if you were crazy enough to somehow bring him here, that would screw everything up. So no. Leave him alone. He still thinks I'm out there in the real world somewhere. I don't want him learning the truth unless we've tried everything and nothing's worked."

"Okay. What about Quinn?" Lydia asked. F.Z. crossed her arms and thought for a moment.

"Leads to kind of the same problem. See, anybody who was close to me is gonna wanna know what happened to me. And I didn't make that many friends in middle school, so I don't remember much besides 'em. Listen, just... well, I guess I can't make you stop, but maybe just stop looking for what my real name is. I think it'd be easier to wait until I get it back naturally. It's gonna come sooner or later, and even after I know what it is I'll probably still tell you guys to call me F.Z. regardless because the name is probably going to be stupid. It's important to me, yeah, but something tells me I'm not gonna remember it any sooner than the universe lets me."

Lydia nodded, finding that a pretty reasonable line of thinking. F.Z. sure had done a lot of thinking in a day's time, she thought.

"Okay. We'll do that. Now... I want to talk about something else." Lydia said.

"What?" F.Z. asked. Lydia smiled.

"I've been thinking about what kind of dress I should get for the homecoming dance. As soon as we're done with our training on Saturday, the girls and I are going to go shopping for one." F.Z. raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah? What were you thinking about getting?" She asked.

"I wasn't sure whether to get a dress that goes down to the floor or one that's shorter, like around my knees. I also haven't decided on the color yet. What do you think I should get?" Lydia asked. F.Z. squinted at her, thinking for a moment.

"You kinda seem like the kind of girl who could rock either short or long. I can't imagine you wearing something with a really bright color, though, like yellow or hot pink or something. Maybe you could get something that's the same blue as your ribbon? That blue's pretty good on you." She said.

"It is, yeah. What about like, a dark maroon or something? I agree, some kind of darker color would be best." Lydia said.

"Oh yeah. That'd definitely look good on you too. I'm pretty sure whatever you pick is gonna be great, though. From what I've seen you wear, you pretty much know what you're doing when you go shopping. Way better than me, that's for sure." F.Z. said. She was still wearing the same flower-patterned blue-green dress that she had gotten for her several weeks ago. Lydia's smile widened as she realized what she could now do.

"Hey, F.Z.?" She said, stepping closer to her. F.Z. noticed the change in her expression and leaned back a bit.

"What? What are you thinking?" She asked. Lydia stopped in front of her and said,

"Just because you can't come to the dance doesn't mean you should miss out on wearing a new dress. I'm totally going to buy one for you. And no, it's not a bother to me. You've seen how much money we get from fighting Shadows. If I wanted to, I'm pretty sure I could march over to the warehouse right now and beat them up by myself until I got the money for it."

F.Z. tugged at her current dress. She thought it was pretty good, but after having remembered something as mundane as changing clothes every day, she almost found herself wishing she could do the same here, even if days didn't actually pass in the traditional sense.

"Whatever you pick, make sure it fits me, alright? I'm gonna trust you with this." She said, looking down at the grass.

"Of course. I'll do my best. Actually..." Lydia trailed off, looking down at F.Z.'s feet. She hadn't tried to buy her any shoes yet, but a pretty dress wasn't a complete outfit on its own - it needed the right pair of shoes to go along with it.

"What?"

"Gonna need to buy you some shoes, too. Do you happen to know what your shoe size is?"

"Huh, I actually know this one. Um, should be 5. Hope that isn't too hard to find."

"Okay. Well, I gotta go. Could you..."

"Yeah." F.Z. said, opening a portal. Lydia walked through, and made a note of F.Z.'s shoe size on her phone. It was about what she expected from someone who was hardly even five feet tall, and probably less since she tended to wear shoes with raised heels in them. She wondered which of her parents was the short one or if it was both of them.

 _She said her dad was the only one raising her. She doesn't seem to have remembered anything about her mother, or else that would've come to the forefront of her mind already. I guess that's in whatever she has yet to remember. I hope it doesn't turn out that her mother abandoned her family or something like that. The only other explanation I can think of for why she wouldn't be in her daughter's life is that she's passed away, which while it's better than the other thing, could still be pretty bad depending on how it happened._

* * *

 **Original upload date: May 13, 2017**

 **SakuraDreamerz - I'm not sure if this is still timely, but it sounds like you want to see them. Maybe you should do so. I doubt such an opportunity comes along all that often, so don't miss out on it.**

 **A/N: So for the first time since like, Chapter 7, I'm putting through a chapter with less than 3,200 words in it. I've been wanting to return to shorter chapters for a while, so we'll see how long I can keep this up before I inevitably go back to posting 6,000+ word chapters. I'm going to guess it'll happen right around the time the next Idol event occurs. Also, to those who have come across this story after discovering the Persona series through Persona 5, welcome! If you're reading this, you've probably read the whole story up to this point, and for that I thank you. This fic was based primarily on Persona 4, but I'm glad you found it interesting enough to read it through this far. Hopefully I can continue to make it worth reading for you all.**


	52. Chapter 47

**October 21, 2015 - Wednesday, Early Morning - Sunny**

When Lydia got to school that day, she saw that Morgan was busy selling tickets to the homecoming dance. Allie and Damien had been hanging out next to her, with Nori standing by talking to them as well. She greeted them and took her place near them.

"Hey, Lydia. How are you doing?" Nori asked of her. She was wearing a black t-shirt and blue jeans along with some white flats.

"I'm good. And you?"

"I'm good!"

"Hey, Nori, so did you decide what color ribbon you wanted? I brought you the yellow pin like you wanted." Damien said, retrieving a yellow QIB pin from his pocket and handing it to her.

"Yellow is fine. And you can have my initials done in white, just like the others." She responded, accepting the pin and putting it in one of the side pockets on her backpack. Damien nodded to her, and then gestured to Allie.

"Okay. So... Nori Sanchez, N.S. Got it." She said.

"The football team is playing an away game this Friday, right?" Nori asked Lydia.

"Yeah. It's at Quartz East." She responded.

"I see. Have you liked being on our dance team?" Nori asked.

"It's been pretty good, for the most part. There's some drama sometimes, but thankfully it doesn't really have anything to do with me. I mostly just keep my head down around stuff like that." Lydia said. She wondered how things would've turned out if neither Carla nor Dawn were on the team. It was likely somebody similar would've been in their place, but yet she couldn't imagine there being a rivalry quite as bitter as theirs.

"That's good. I prefer to keep my drama on the stage. Everyone enjoys it a lot more that way." Nori said.

"I think I heard the theater club is working on something right now, right? What is it?" Lydia asked.

"It's _Hamlet._ I'm playing the role of Gertrude, Hamlet's mother." She responded.

"Shakespeare, huh? It's interesting stuff, but man is it hard to understand. There's a reason they have university professors specializing in that stuff." Damien remarked.

"Yeah, I didn't really like it too much 'cause of that. At least we got to watch a movie of it once we'd actually finished reading the whole thing. Uh, for me it was _Merchant of Venice._ " Nathan said.

"I think my freshman year we read... _Romeo and Juliet?_ And then later this year I think we're supposed to be doing _Macbeth._ " Jacob added.

"I see. In my English classes, we've been doing _Hamlet._ " Lydia said.

"Yeah. It's always the same four plays in order, one per year. I dunno if they're ever going to change one of them out or whatever, but here at this school you get a heaping help of the Bard every year." Damien explained.

"It's challenging, but once you understand it, you can really get into it. At least, that's what I've felt from rehearsing my lines for it and doing rehearsals with the rest of the group." Nori said. No one had brought it up, but aside from Nori, Lydia knew that every other QIB member that was here was aware that her main Persona was named after the Ophelia from the play Nori was performing in. Although her having black hair and blue eyes made her different from the typical portrayal of the Ophelia from the play, that she wore a flowing white gown and used water as her main element made it almost certain that she was supposed to be based on her.

"Sooooo... have you all bought your tickets to the dance yet?" Morgan asked, having finished dealing with the people that had come to buy tickets from her. Everyone looked at each other, seeing if anybody would say yes. When no one did, Morgan crossed her arms and giggled a bit.

"Wow, no one at all, huh? Well, we _are_ selling tickets at the door, but they'll be more expensive then and you won't get the couples' discount!" She said, pointing to the piece of paper that listed the ticket prices.

"I don't think I'm going to get that discount." Jacob said, sighing. Before anyone else could say anything, he held up a hand to stop them.

"Please don't worry about me. I'll be okay. It's just going to... take some time before I stop sighing about it." He continued.

"I'm sorry about your breakup. I'm sure you'll find someone who's better for you." Nori said. Jacob nodded.

"Yeah. I've been hearing that a lot. Thanks for being concerned about me, though. I know we've just barely met." He responded.

"So when are you guys gonna be performing the play? I'm guessing it's like, sometime in November?" Damien asked.

"Yes. We have three performances, from November 10th to the 12th. Each one starts at 7:30. I believe the performance on the 11th is also a dinner theatre, which means you'll be served dinner before the play starts and get to eat it while watching." Nori answered.

"Cool. You might make it actually entertaining, then. Just reading this stuff out loud in class is pretty boring, and our teacher isn't showing us a movie because of the play, I guess to entice us to go see it." Damien said.

"Uh, it's actually free for students. The dinner theatre thing will still cost whatever the dinner costs, though, if you want to eat what they're serving. You don't gotta eat if you want to go to it that night." Nathan explained to Lydia.

"Maybe we can all get together to go see it. I think it'd be a lot better that way." Allie offered.

"If you guys want to do that, I'll go too. Just let me know when you're going to do it." Morgan said.

"I've already got my family coming to see it on the opening night. With you all, that would make it at least ten people coming just to see _me_ there..." Nori said, feeling a little overwhelmed by the prospect. She brought her hands up to her face, covering up to her nose. Lydia thought the gesture was cute and said,

"I guess that makes you a bit of a star, huh?"

Nori dropped her hands from her face and folded them together in front of her, trying to think of something to say in response.

"Um... thank you. I-I'm sorry, I just didn't quite expect you to... I mean, the rest of you... I guess I'm still surprised that you consider me your friend already. After what happened... well, I didn't know what was going to happen afterwards." She nervously smoothed out her fluffy, wavy brown hair with her hands as she spoke.

"Hey, if we could've taken you to FantasyFlare, we would have. But next time something like that comes up, you are definitely coming with us." Damien said.

"I'll remember that for later." Nori replied.

The group talked amongst themselves until the warning bell rang, at which point they all began to split up. Nori hung back a moment to speak to Lydia.

"Lydia, there's something I have to ask you before I go."

"What is it?"

"F.Z. is all alone in the valley most of the time, right? Do you all go to see her regularly?" She asked.

"Whenever we go to train, yes. That's normally once a week for us. Sometimes I go in there by myself to talk to her, too. As far as I know, I'm the only one that does that. Damien and F.Z. don't get along too well, and she's not really that close to the others either. She seems to be pretty selective about who she opens up to." Lydia replied. She wondered if it was strange at all that besides her, no one went to speak to F.Z. outside of training.

"I see. Do you think she would talk to me?"

"Well, she did help you overcome your Idol. She hadn't helped out in that way before, so... yes, I think she'd talk to you. All you need to do is go into the valley and call for her, and she'll come." Lydia said. Nori nodded, and felt for her mirror in her back pocket.

"Okay. I'll remember that. Thanks."

"Oh, and one more thing." Lydia began, noticing Nori reaching for her mirror.

"You can't use your mirror to go in. It has to be a normal one. I'm guessing it's because we take ours with us inside the valley, and the mirror needs to be stationed here in the real world for it to act as a portal."

"Oh, okay. So any normal mirror works?"

"It should. It's best if you use a large one, though. Do you have one in your bedroom?"

"Yes, but I share it with one of my sisters. I haven't gotten around to telling my siblings about QIB yet." Nori said, folding her hands together again.

"You already know how I've dealt with that. It's up to you if you think they can keep it a secret. But I only have one younger sibling. You have three, all of which are even younger. I have a feeling we won't be able to keep it a secret forever, but I'm hoping we can keep it that way for as long as we can." Lydia said. Nori nodded, closing her eyes as she took it in.

"Mm-hmm. Well... I'll figure something out. I have to go. See you later." She said, walking away from Lydia.

 **Wednesday, Evening - Cloudy**

Lydia was in the middle of doing her homework when her phone vibrated, signaling an incoming text message from someone. She had been focused for a straight hour trying to work and was now on the last of the math problems, a few problems short of finishing them when the text came in.

 _Almost perfect timing. Almost. Wonder who it is._

"Hello. Lydia?" The message was from Nori. As much as Lydia wanted to chat with her about stuff, the math homework was due tomorrow and she didn't want to have to hurry and finish it in the morning.

"Hey. Doing HW right now. Almost done. Give me 5 minutes."

"Oh, okay. Sorry."

Once she had finished her homework, Lydia grabbed her phone and laid on her bed, closing the curtain since the light from the streetlamp was bothering her.

"Done now. What's up?" While she was waiting for Nori to respond, she found her earbuds and started to listen to some music from her phone.

"I went to see FZ today after school. She was surprised to see me. According to her, you really are the only other one that had come alone until I did." There was something about that sentence that made Lydia sigh, despite her understanding of why that was.

"I see. What did you two talk about? Was she hard to talk to?"

"No, hardly. But omg, I've never heard someone Desiree's age curse like she does. If she" The message ended abruptly, leading Lydia to believe Nori accidentally pressed Send too soon on her phone.

"Sorry. Hit send on accident." Nori texted before continuing on.

"If she ever met her and my parents found out, they would definitely not be ok with them being friends. I asked FZ why she curses so much. You want to know what her answer was?"

"I bet it was something you couldn't say out loud in your house." Lydia answered, imagining F.Z. coming up with an extra spicy answer to that question just because she could.

"No kidding! This was her answer.

'Well, since you fucking asked, let me fucking tell you. It doesn't bother me to say what I damn well please around people. I'm not very good at holding back, and I think you saw that with that Idol shit. And don't think I do it just to piss people off. That's just a bonus.'

I don't know what's more shocking, that she talks that way or that it sounds so natural coming from her!" Nori texted.

"She is right about one thing: she doesn't do it simply to get a rise out of people. I mean, even someone like me who doesn't really play video games knows about the stereotypical 12-year-old boy who curses up a storm online to try and sound... what did Damien call it? Edgy? But yeah, even with what I know about her I'm still curious as to why she does it." Lydia replied. She then remembered something and texted again.

"Oh. I don't know if we told you, but FZ is supposed to be 15 now. She died before starting her freshman year in high school. She assumes her birthday's passed by now, so that's where she got 15 from."

"15? Honestly, that doesn't change much about it. She still looks so young to me."

"She hasn't aged at all since her death. That might be why."

"Maybe. Oh, but I still haven't told you what we actually talked about. She wasn't willing to tell me much about herself, so it was mostly talking about me. What I do, the kind of person I am, how I feel about being dragged into all this against my will. She's still surprised that QIB has so easily accepted it." Nori texted. That got Lydia thinking.

 _What would we have done if someone had said no? If someone had refused their Idol, obtained their Persona, but declined to join us? What if we had gotten someone who wanted to just forget it all happened? We wouldn't have forced them to help, but... our Personas can still talk to us even in the real world. Would they be nudging that person to do something, or not?_

"It's... I wonder about that too. FZ told me that a few people were taken into the valley after she was, but before Allie. We don't know what happened to them. They're not part of Sycophanta. But everyone we've met that's been to the valley and lived to tell the tale has a Persona now, whether they're good or bad. What about those people we've never met? How are they doing?"

There was a period of several minutes of silence where neither girl said anything. Lydia reached for a pack of gum she kept nearby, retrieved a stick, and started chewing it. She thought about taking it to school, but if it was anything like Crystal Rapids, a full 24 pack of gum would be half expended by lunch and completely gone by the end of the day. She _could_ buy as much gum as she wanted thanks to her new source of income, but just the thought of being the one everybody bugged for gum was bothersome enough to make her decide it wasn't worth it.

"Maybe it's fate. I don't know. You all have said that the valley seems to be getting stronger, smarter. Maybe at first it took just anybody. Then it started only taking people that could be swayed to join it. That might explain why everyone since Allie has either been on our side or theirs." Nori finally responded.

"That might be exactly it. It would explain why we know exactly what happened to everyone that's come here since then. But despite all we've been able to figure out, we still don't have a solution for stopping it for good."

"We just have to trust something will show itself. It has to have a weakness, right?" Nori texted.

"Yeah. I try not to worry so much about it. You shouldn't either. Remember, we still have our normal lives to live. We're all better off if we live as best as we can without letting that weigh on us so much." Lydia responded, suddenly feeling Nathan's words about her being the leader of the group come back to her.

 _"But I mean, you're like this kickass Persona-user, right? I just thought since you were the leader of QIB and all.."_ _That's what he said. He called me the leader. That's what everyone sees me as, the leader. And well... that's exactly what I'm doing right now, huh? Being a leader?_

"Yes. I agree. Thank you for the reminder. And also, please don't hesitate to call on me whenever you need something. You all helped me when I needed it most. It's only fair that I offer my help in return."

"Of course. I'll remember that."

"Let's talk about something else then. Remember when Morgan asked us this morning if anyone had bought their tickets to the dance and no one said anything? That was awkward!"

The two girls continued to text each other for a while. Nori told Lydia that she had already found a date last week: a guy from her theater group, the one playing Polonius in the play. His name was Derek, and he was someone that she'd been friends with for years. Lydia told her about her situation, and Nori told her that there was nothing wrong with going with friends and not having a date, that people get too fussy over having a date that a lot of them don't even seem to enjoy it even when they do get one.

Lydia still wanted to have a date despite Nori's words. She told her as much, and this was the response she received:

"Okay. That's just how you feel, then. I hope you find someone good and that you have a great time with him."

They then moved on to other topics, like what they did in their off time when they weren't at school or doing extracurriculars. As might be expected from someone with a reasonably large family, Nori was often busy doing things with her siblings. The age gap between her and them meant that she had to look to her friends at school if she wanted to talk about things that were more relevant to her, so she convinced her parents to let her attend Fulton despite Quartz East being the closer and more convenient school.

"I figured a new school would be a lot more exciting than one that's been there for decades. Of course, I can't say for sure that it is, but I like to think so." Nori texted regarding it.

They then went to the topic of Lydia's move from across the state. Nori remarked that the distance would've been the same as moving from Louisiana to Florida, and Lydia responded that she didn't know just how much _nothing_ there was to see in Texas until she saw the hundreds of miles of it for herself. After explaining why the move was necessary, Nori asked Lydia this question:

"If you could live anywhere you wanted, where would you choose to live?"

Lydia got to thinking about this question, and was mulling over how much Houston really appealed to her before Nori answered the question herself.

"As for me, I don't have any place in particular in mind, but I think I'd like to live in a suburb where it snows. Not several feet of it, but enough to consistently have a white Christmas."

 _It kinda snowed in Crystal Rapids. It wasn't anything you could do much with, though. It'd be all gone by noon most of the time. It's so much hotter over here, so I seriously doubt it would snow at all. But to consider her question... if I could live anywhere I wanted?_

"I think Houston. I would never be bored there." Lydia texted. As she waited for Nori's response, her mind wandered off into considering questions that crept up from the back of her mind.

 _Would I ever want to go back to a place like that? It was where I spent most of my years growing up. I have a lot of happy memories from there. But... the worst things that've ever happened to me happened there, too. Can I ever look at it the same after being to a place like Houston for real? Where exactly do I **belong?**_

"Oh, that's for sure. I can see why too. There must not have been that much to do back where you came from."

"More than you think, but yes. You're right." Lydia responded, hardly thinking about what she had just sent.

"Desiree is starting to ask about you. I kinda wish I could just sneak off into the valley so we could talk in person and not have to worry about time passing as quickly. You said it passes faster inside, right?" Nori texted.

"Yeah." Lydia responded, still mulling over her thoughts from before. An idea popped up in her mind and suddenly swept her previous thoughts away, and she quickly typed out another message.

"We should totally do that sometime. I can't believe we never thought of that until now, going in there just to talk to each other and have more time to do it."

"You also said electronics don't work. We could talk, but that's it." Nori responded.

"Oh. Good point. But still, we have to do that at least once. Just you and me. I'm sure FZ won't mind." Lydia hadn't asked which Arcana Nori's Persona represented, and Jacob hadn't had the opportunity to scan her either. Every other Persona-user on QIB had a Social Link with her, and now that she was familiar with how it worked, she figured that she could get one to appear if she met with her in the valley.

 _Then again, Damien's Link appeared to me while I was on the phone with him. Would it work through text messaging? I guess if I see another card, I'll know._

"Maybe tomorrow. Desiree is going over to a friend's house and I'll have the room to myself then."

"Sounds good. Let me know when you're ready."

"Ok."

After their conversation was over and Lydia settled down to go to sleep, she turned off the bedroom light and made her way to her bed, the room filled with darkness except for the persistent blue glow of the Velvet Room door. There was something comforting about having that glow in the darkness, especially since she was the only one that could see it. It made the room feel like it was a gateway to a different existence, a place right out of a storybook.

 _It's like that panel at the convention said. This is still my room. My ordinary, everyday bedroom. But there's always that otherworldly thing there, reminding me that my life is more than just ordinary. I wonder what things would've been like if it wasn't so accommodating to my everyday life, if the Velvet Room was instead some kind of headquarters where I'd have to live training every day to use my Personas. What kind of life would that have been?_

She laid down and covered herself with the sheets. She reached for Junebug, and mused that this alternate universe Velvet Room may or may not have let her bring him with her to its hypothetical personal chambers.

 _I think they would've let me bring at least a couple of personal items. But if the Velvet Room was like that, would it have also been just me and the permanent residents? That makes it sound like I'm training with a kung fu master at a secret dojo, like I was the only one chosen to take up the art from a master. Now that's something. What if I didn't have the wild card, or if other people did? This'll keep me up all night if I think about it too much._

She put Junebug back in his original place sitting next to her and rolled over to face him. She couldn't really see his face in the darkness, but she knew he was still there, his smile remaining as stalwart as ever.

 _Not that you ever needed to think too hard. You're always looking up, aren't you? I wish everything could be that simple._

* * *

 **Original upload date: July 4, 2017**

 **A/N: Guess what I got into since my last update. Don't want to guess? That's fine. I'll tell you. I started playing Final Fantasy XIV, which if you didn't know, is an MMO. I picked it up a couple of months ago and now have the White Mage job at level 70. Would you like to know what server I'm on and what my character's name is? You'll have to PM me.**

 **But anyways. Let's get back to more relevant stuff.**

 **JoseiHero-XXII: Wow, someone actually mentioned Trinity Soul. I haven't seen that myself, but based on what I've read about it, there's a reason practically no one knows or talks about it. I'd be surprised if I was the first person to have an OC-centric fic with a female protagonist; surely there must be at least one other, no? Either way, thanks for the review.**

 **RosyMiranto18: Thanks for the compliment. And regarding your speculation... well, 45AF _was_ a joke chapter. I don't think that you could take what happens in it to be indicative of anything that might happen in the canon chapters. And F.Z. facing her Idol again. Now how would _that_ happen, I wonder? Certainly an interesting thing to think about.**

 **Blue VanLocke: I do try my best to have the setting conform to reality where necessary. As it turns out though, there are indeed quite the variety of butterflies to be found in Texas, some of which are white in color. I prefer to think of the one Lydia saw as an especially luminous variant of _Ascia monuste,_ if you would like an exact reference. Thanks for the review!**


	53. Chapter 48

**October 22, 2015 - Thursday, Early Morning - Sunny**

As Lydia was getting ready to go to school, she texted Nori to ask when her sister was going to her friend's house. She had said shortly after her school let out, which was before Nori herself would get home from her rehearsal. When Lydia got to school and walked in through her usual entrance, she saw the rest of the group waiting there near Morgan and her homecoming stuff.

"Hey." She greeted them, looking towards Nori.

"Yo, what's up?" Damien responded.

"Nori and I are going to hang out after school today." Lydia responded.

"Cool. Yeah, Allie and I are having a gaming session at my house later. What about you guys? What are your plans for today?" Damien asked the group.

"Uh, probably catching up on homework I've been putting off. Watch TV. Maybe work out a bit. I've got a few weights in the garage at my house." Nathan answered.

"Um, I've been kind of working on some art. It's... helped me with the breakup. I'm probably not going to do it today, but that's what I've been up to besides my usual stuff." Jacob said, looking in a direction that no one was standing in.

"I already have my Halloween cosplay ready to go. Let's see here... um, I got a lot of good comments on my FantasyFlare albums. It's basically me just chilling until next week." Morgan said, putting her hands together and leaning back slightly in her chair.

"What's your costume?" Nori asked.

"Michelle from _Burning Sigil: Luminous Sunrise._ I don't expect to win the prize at the costume contest at the party I'm going to, though. This is more of a 'just for fun' thing for me. The winner's gonna be someone who's put way more effort into their costume than mine." Morgan replied, pointing upwards with her index fingers.

"What kind of costumes win? You make it sound like it's a regular thing." Nori said.

"Oh, like a really good monster costume, the kind with extensive makeup, custom-made outfits and props and everything. That's not to say I'm not gonna make a good show. It's just that I wasn't going for the prize, especially just coming off of FantasyFlare where I'd spent a lot more putting that ensemble together." Morgan explained.

"I didn't know we had such talented people here in town. Who's throwing this party?" Damien asked.

"Guy's name is Xavier Grace. The only reason I know his last name is because that's how he introduces himself when he starts the party. His parents are filthy rich, apparently old money or something. They're hardly ever around, so he uses their mansion of a house to throw this huge Halloween party every year. Now before you start imagining crazy frat boy hijinks, you gotta remember he's been doing this ever since he was 18. He's 24 or something now, so that's six years. If it was really that bad cosplayers wouldn't go to it." Morgan said, leaning forward and resting her chin on her folded hands.

"Have you been to them before?" Lydia asked, imagining that this party was likely the sort of thing the average parent wouldn't be too keen on letting their under-18 kids go to.

"A couple of times, yeah. And being richer than pretty much anybody his age in town means he can hire security to make sure everything's on the up and up. I know it _sounds_ like something that can get out of hand really easily, but trust me. It's really not that bad." Morgan said, pulling her hands apart and resting her arms on the table. She continued, saying,

"I know it's literally the day before homecoming, but if any of you guys want to come, it's a pretty sweet party. You don't have to wear a Halloween costume or anything, either. That's just for the people interested in the contest. I mean, everyone except Nori went to two raves on back to back days, right? Just last week?"

"I'll think about it." Damien said, his tone indicating a finality to the conversation. The rest of the group sans Nori agreed with his sentiment, feeling for one reason or another that this wasn't exactly the same thing as FantasyFlare.

"Thank you for the offer, but I don't think I'll be going to that. I want to be freshly rested for homecoming." Nori said to Morgan, who shrugged.

"That's fine. I'm not saying anybody _has_ to come. I'm just letting you guys know it's there. But yeah, time to talk about something else. Like..." She trailed off, expecting to say something but coming up with nothing.

"The school lunch? It's actually been really good this week." Jacob stated tentatively, which ended up kicking off a conversation about the food at Fulton and its fluctuating quality, which seemed to hover mostly around passable, with occasional dips into good and bad depending on absolutely no discernible criteria whatsoever. The group talked until it was time for class, at which point they split up.

 **Thursday, Evening - Clear**

It was some time after dinner when Lydia's phone lit up with a particular sound that told her she'd received a text message. Nori's sister was well and gone from the house, and the other two siblings were thoroughly occupied watching a movie complete with popcorn and drinks, so any disturbances were unlikely. She had asked Lydia if there was anything she needed to know before going in.

"Shadows still roam in the abandoned dungeons, so don't get too close. We're not going to be fighting, but bring your mirror anyway. You can practice summoning your Persona that way."

"Ok. So I just stand in front of the mirror and focus on going there, right?"

"Yes. It's totally silent and doesn't make a big flash of light or anything."

"Ok. Well, here I go. See you there."

Lydia took that as the signal to go in. She took her mirror and went into the valley, appearing a few seconds before Nori did. When she did, she looked around to make sure that sure was indeed in the valley. Her eyes came to rest on the movie theater that had been erected for her.

"It's still there. Just like the others." She remarked, her gaze shifting from the dungeon to her mirror. It was certainly pretty, made with a precision that would certainly come off as professional even to the untrained eye. Its purple and crimson colors were distinct at the corners of the diamond-shaped mirror, blending together along the edges. There was the symbol of Frigg's staff at the top where the two colors met, carved into the material that felt distinctly like wood but not quite exactly like it.

"Yeah. They all stand as testaments to the people that have been saved. You see, if the Idols are successful, the dungeon just pops out of existence with no trace of it ever having been there. I was in one when it happened. So were Allie, Damien, and Nathan." Lydia explained.

"Mm. So... does that mean they joined Sycophanta? Was it one of the two men that you fought?"

"Yes to the first question, no to the second. Her name is Valerie. According to what she herself told us when we were fighting her while going through Jacob's dungeon, even if we had gotten to her in time she would've refused us. She said she didn't need anyone to try and sway her either way."

Nori remained silent for a moment, feeling Frigg's presence well up within her. She didn't say anything, but Nori could sense a desire to manifest from her, a warm but firm urging that felt far more familiar than she would've expected.

"I see. Hmm..."

Nori raised her mirror in front of her face. She could see her reflection change into Frigg's, and saw blue flames beginning to form on the edges of the mirror. A rush came over her as she allowed the self within to come forth, the flames bursting into a plume and consuming the mirror. She looked at her hands and saw that they were completely fine, and that the mirror had been consumed. She then looked at up at Frigg, who was looking down at her with a smile. Like the Personas that the rest of QIB summoned, she had a soft blue tinge to her that was the same color as the flames that heralded their arrival.

"This is... like going on stage on opening night. It's that same combination of confidence and nervousness. I know I have what it takes, but at the same time I don't know for sure how the audience is going to react. It's like that." Nori spoke, her eyes not leaving Frigg. Lydia approached her and called on Ophelia, who floated in the air next to Frigg and waved to her.

"That's a good way of putting it. You see, everyone else on QIB got their Persona like you did, after reconciling with their Idol. But I was selected as the Beholder, which meant that I didn't have to do that. Instead, my Persona awakened when I was in life-threatening danger, which was when Shadows attacked me when I tried to go after Allie when she was pulled in here. So for me it was sort of like that, being both scared and courageous at the same time."

Nori could feel her energy flowing out from her steadily as it was being used to maintain Frigg's presence. She remembered that while they were fighting, QIB's Personas were repeatedly summoned rather than being out continuously. Frigg had not actually taken any actions, and yet Nori felt her strength being slowly sapped away.

"My, it's... now I understand why your Personas aren't constantly present. This could get taxing very quickly if I had to sustain Frigg constantly for a long time." She spoke, and decided to let Frigg dissipate. Her mirror then reformed in her left hand, looking none the worse for wear.

"I don't think it's something we've ever thought about too much. It just feels natural to have them come and go like that." Lydia said, recalling Ophelia.

"I see. Yes, it'd make sense that our Personas, our other selves that we use as masks to deal with evil, aren't constantly up all the time. I don't even have to imagine how tiring that would be either." Nori said as a wind blew through her hair. She perked up and noticed that the gust of wind left as quickly as it came, and wasn't surprised to see F.Z. immediately appear beside her.

"You're... both of you! What are you two doing here? You didn't call for me or anything!" She said, puzzled.

"Lydia and I wanted to talk inside here so that we'd have more time to do it. I hope that's not a problem." Nori said, turning to face her. F.Z. ran her fingers through her hair, trying to straighten it out.

"Uh, no. It's just... damn, I almost thought you were Sycophanta for a moment. I didn't pick up Lydia and I don't know you well enough to figure out it's you just from touching you in the winds, so I thought they'd come in here to do something. Much better to see you two instead of them." She formed a quartz rock in her right hand and began to toss it between her hands, continuing with,

"But that's really all you came to do? Just... talk? You said you wanted more time to do it, but there's literally nothing to do here except gawk at the stupid quartz and beat the crap out of Shadows! And talk to me, I guess, but clearly you guys weren't here to do that!"

"It's something we'd never done before. Or thought to do, really." Lydia began, approaching F.Z.

"I mean, you're right about there being more to do in the real world. But as far as talking is concerned, don't you think it's better to do it in person if you can?" She said, gesturing to Nori.

"I guess. I guess that also means that I interrupted your conversation. If you wanted to talk to _me,_ you would've said so. So that means I gotta scram, right?" F.Z. asked, crumbling the quartz she had made into dust.

"Well, I wouldn't put it that way, but-" Lydia started, but was stopped by F.Z. putting up a hand in front of her.

"No, no. You ain't gotta say any more. I'll leave you two alone. Give me a shout when you're ready to leave the valley." Before either girl could say anything, F.Z. disappeared into the winds. Nori walked to where she had stood last and said,

"I was going to ask her about the weather here. It's completely overcast now. I remember she said that it changes after someone faces their Idol. I also remember she said that she thought something bad would happen if it ever started raining here."

Lydia looked up and saw that Nori's observation was true; the sun that had blanketed the valley ever since they started coming in here was no longer directly visible. A mixture of white and gray clouds covered the sky, remaining stationary as there was no wind except wherever F.Z. chose to be. F.Z. had a closer connection to the valley than any of them, so if she felt something bad would happen if the weather got worse, it was probably not without merit.

"She understands more about this place than any of us. We'll have to watch out for rain in the future." She spoke, turning her attention back to Nori, who nodded in agreement. Nori continued to look at the sky as she sat down on the grass. When next she spoke, her voice took on a serious, solemn tone.

"Lydia. I want to ask you something. And I want you to be completely honest with me. Please don't sugarcoat your words or try to dodge the question."

Lydia went and sat down next to her.

"Okay. What did you want to ask?"

Upon noticing that she had sat next to her, Nori locked eyes with her. Lydia could sense a power in them that briefly surprised her; it was as if a switch had flicked on within Nori that made her appear deadly serious. The words that came out of her mouth next were delivered in a tone that almost sounded like it was coming from an entirely different person.

"If someone dies under your watch, what will you do?"

She said nothing more to follow it. Instead, her gaze remained firmly fixed on Lydia, awaiting her response. She looked away from Nori's piercing eyes and looked down at the grass in front of her. She had placed her mirror on the ground and felt the need to turn it over so that the reflective surface wasn't facing her.

"That's... that's a lot to think about out of nowhere, you know. Y-You're really putting me on the spot here." She was afraid to look back at her, although she knew that Nori was still staring at her.

"I know. But you _are_ the leader of this group. Everyone's counting on _you_ to keep it together no matter what happens. And while we all hope we all make it through to see the end of this, there's the possibility someone might _not_. That's why I... ah. Actually... you know what?" Nori said, her voice softening at the end as she asked her question.

"I made too many assumptions. I... I thought you already had an answer for that question, or that you'd thought about it some. But you haven't. It's not fair to expect you to come up with an answer so quickly like that." She looked at Lydia deliberately trying not to look at her as she ran her fingers through the grass beside her.

"Please look at me. I promise I won't hurt you anymore."

Lydia gripped the grass with the hand she'd been using to run her fingers through it. She turned her head to face Nori, who looked earnestly sorry for having overstepped her boundaries. She had even raised her mirror to her face, covering her nose and mouth with it as she spoke.

"I'm sorry for doing that to you. I just... I'm worried. I'm scared about that happening. And I know you are too, but I... I guess I had the wrong impression of you. You never asked to be a part of this any more than anyone else. You're just trying to figure it out as you go along. Ah! I should stop talking before I say any more dumb, stupid things!"

Lydia sighed, finding it difficult to remain upset with her. One moment she was scarily focused and serious, and then in the next she went back to her cute mannerisms and tentative attitude. Lydia let go of the grass she was holding and put her hands in her lap.

"It's okay. It's... well, I've been aware of that ever since the beginning. But... that's not something anyone really wants to think about actually having to do. I mean, it's terrifying to consider. So many things would unravel if that happened that I've never made a plan for it. Still. I know it's a question that needs an answer, even if that answer is never needed in the end. And you're not at fault for wanting to know."

 _But I wish everyone would stop expecting me to give them all the answers. Nori, you're new to all this, so I can't blame you too much for wanting to know. That doesn't mean it's not still piling more on top of me, though! Doesn't anyone ever stop to consider that?_

"Are you okay? You looked like you were in pain just now." Nori said, her hands and her mirror having come down from her face and making her words clear again. Lydia felt heat rush into her cheeks, feeling exposed after what she had just said to her. She must have visibly cringed and not realized it, which caused Nori to see what she was feeling.

"It's... people ask so much of me sometimes. They don't think about how much weight they put on me. They assume I'll take care of it because I'm the leader, because I'm supposed to be _special._ " Lydia mumbled, closing her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I, um... I'm sorry. I didn't know." Nori said, trying to figure out what to say to her.

"It's fine. I'm not going to be mad at you for it. Just... try to remember that I don't have all the answers. I'm not going to be able to magically solve every problem just because I'm the Beholder. There is only so much I'm going to be able to deal with before it breaks me." Lydia spoke, her eyes still closed.

"Okay." Nori replied. She scooted closer to Lydia, and hesitated for a moment before putting a hand on her shoulder. Lydia was briefly surprised by this, opening her eyes to look over at her.

"If you want, you can share your problems with me. I'll help carry them for you. It's the least I can do for you considering what you've done for me." Nori said, smiling at her. It was enough to make her crack a smile, and she nodded in acknowledgment.

"Thank you."

And at that moment, time came to a standstill, and the ever-familiar sound of shattering glass was heard by Lydia once more. Between her and Nori yet another new tarot card appeared, this one depicting a woman wearing a bishop's robes and mitre set to a red and black background, with the letter 'B' inscribed on the mitre and a crescent moon above her forehead. This card had the roman numeral for two at the bottom.

 **Thou art I... and I am thou...**

 **Thou hast established a new bond...**

 **In thee, the Beholder's sight grows ever clearer...**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Priestess Arcana...**

 _So that's what she is. It's been a while since I've looked up the meanings of the Arcana, so I don't quite remember too much what this one means. But I bet it has to do with insight and caring for people. I also wouldn't be surprised if there was something in there about secretly being very strong on the inside._

Once the card disappeared, there was a moment of silence between the two before Lydia decided to stand up, feeling that the conversation had ended. Nori stood up with her, and Lydia turned to face her, saying,

"Well, I certainly got more out of this than I was expecting! Did you... plan on asking me that question before you came in here, or was that sort of a spur of the moment kind of thing?" In response, Nori tilted her head side to side as if to consider one of two answers to give before saying something.

"Sorta... both? It was on my mind, and I did want to ask you at some point, but... when I summoned Frigg, it gave me this rush of energy that drove me to act that way. I'll try not to let it affect me so much in the future. It's just, I didn't expect that to happen to me."

"Okay. Yeah, everyone reacts differently to it. Allie was more surprised hers was Medusa rather than being surprised she had a Persona at all, Damien just sorta took his in stride because he knew about it beforehand, Nathan was pretty surprised at everything, and then Jacob seemed to accept his pretty easily. And as for me, well... I think I told you about how I felt the first time already."

"And you have the ability to switch between so many different ones. I guess that makes you a girl of many different faces, doesn't it?" Nori said, folding her hands together again. Lydia could see the interest in her eyes, and felt that this wasn't going to be the only time they would talk together like this.

"I guess it does. Before I call F.Z. to let us out, I just want to say again... thanks. It really helps to know that I have friends like you caring about me. I had hoped that when I left Crystal Rapids that things would go better for me than they did over there, and so far it's been better than I ever thought possible. Thanks for being a part of that, Nori."

The two of them hugged each other before Lydia called F.Z. to them. When she opened the portal, Nori looked back at Lydia and said,

"I wonder how much time that was. I guess we'll find out!"

"Yeah. Talk to you later, okay?"

"Of course. See you later."

Nori disappeared through the portal. F.Z. asked Lydia,

"So, how was it? You look really happy." Lydia couldn't help but grin as she answered,

"Yeah. It was really good." F.Z. raised an eyebrow and said,

"Man, now you're making me want to know what happened. The only time I've seen you smile like that is when you're acting all cheery after helping me out of a rough spot or when you get a ton of money from the Velvet Room. Guess it was a good talk, huh?"

"It helped me see a couple things more clearly. I'm glad to have Nori not just on the team, but as a friend." Lydia answered.

"Hey, that's good. We still haven't seen her fight yet, though. Hopefully she's just as good in battle as she is at being a friend. I'd hate for her to be shit at fighting. She seems like a pretty decent person, although she's nosy in that 'I'm your sister-mom' kind of way." F.Z. said, making Lydia giggle.

"Yeah, I see what you mean. Sister-mom. I should tell her you said that."

"Go for it. I'll say it straight to her face if she wants me to."

"Alright. Well, we'll see you in a couple days, F.Z."

"Yep. See you then."

* * *

 **Original upload date: July 14, 2017**

 **A/N: Well, if it isn't a second update in one month! When's the last time I actually did _that,_ huh? A long time ago, I bet!**

 **ptl - I don't see why a Plume-powered device couldn't run inside the valley, but I doubt QIB will ever get their hands on something like that. Also, I haven't given too much thought to a sequel or spinoff for this story (aside from _The Fragile Veil,_ as you noted) because... I'd like to just finish this one first. When that'll happen, I can't tell you, but I want to see this finished as much as anyone else does.**

 **RosyMiranto18 - First of all, I did not know this story was listed on TVTropes. Wow, that's really something. I guess I've finally gotten enough attention that someone bothered to write a page on TVTropes about this fic, which is pretty cool. Is it odd that I feel like I can't directly contribute to it myself? It makes me feel kinda... I dunno, like I'm being narcissistic or something if I make changes to the page myself since I'm the one who writes the fic the page is about. Oh, but to address some of your other points: I wouldn't expect anything more than passing references to any other Persona titles. This story is largely standalone. I went and updated the note at the bottom of Chapter 45AF to explain the meaning of the name, but in a nutshell 45AF is a joke chapter that you can safely ignore as far as canon goes.**

 **Ruby rod - I assume you're the guest that left three reviews as you were reading through the story. Thanks for the reviews, and thanks for letting me know how long it took you to get to that point. It's one of those things I'm just curious about.**


	54. Chapter 49

**October 23, 2015 - Friday, Early Morning - Partly Cloudy**

When Lydia got to school on this particular morning, she was greeted by a scene that she had not expected: in front of Morgan's table was a certain young man she'd never seen before, wearing a navy blue jacket with the school's logo on the back. The rest of the group seemed interested in his presence, and Morgan herself was excitedly talking to him. The moment he heard the door open, he looked over to her and met her eyes.

The first thing Lydia thought about him was that he was more handsome than she expected; his face was fully clear of any blemishes and he looked like he cared quite a bit about his grooming, as his blonde hair had spiked bangs and looked as if it was meticulously kept. He was taller than Damien but shorter than Nathan, and wore a gray t-shirt with a faded picture of a ukelele on it, with the words "this is my axe." written below it. His expression went from a smile to lighting up with joy at seeing Lydia.

"Ah! And there's the girl I've been looking for all this time! Finally, my search has come to an end!" He said, making Lydia smile and blush with embarrassment at the sudden outburst.

"Hi. Um... do I- do I know you?" She stuttered, suddenly feeling the eyes of everyone nearby on her. The illustrious young man winked at her, making a swiping gesture across the air with his right index finger and thumb.

"Not yet you don't! You see, I thought you might have _heard_ me before. I'm the guy who does the announcements at the football games! My name's Alvin. You need not introduce yourself to me because your reputation precedes you, Lydia!"

"What? What are you talking about?" She asked. Morgan's response was to roll her eyes and shake her head.

"What are you doing, Alvin?" Morgan asked. The rest of the group watched with anticipation to see how things would unfold.

"Come on, Morgy. How often do you hear Carla talk about another girl the way she talks about Lydia? Usually whenever she opens her mouth about another girl it's to badmouth her or to talk about whatever weekend plans she's made with her. But how often does she make a friend that isn't in her inner circle? Never! So of course I just had to meet her," He said as he pointed to Lydia,

"And see just what about her has Carla's interest piqued so!"

"Don't call me Morgy." Morgan responded, glaring at him. Alvin ignored her and turned back to face Lydia, who was unsure how to feel about this guy and how he pretty much divebombed into her morning from nowhere.

"Of course, it's not as if we can hope to get to know each other in the minutes before school starts, right? So here's my proposition to you." He retrieved a small white card from his jacket pocket and offered it to her by holding it up to her with the back of his hand facing her, the card held upright by his thumb and two of his fingers.

"Take this card. I'd love nothing more than to get to know you, Lydia, and I'd be honored if you would take the time to get to know me too."

In the background, the various members of QIB each had their own reactions. Morgan had covered her face with her palm. Allie shot a look of incredulity to Damien, who looked disgusted. Nathan had crossed his arms, looking impressed. Nori had brought her hands up to her face, covering her mouth and nose in surprise. Jacob had turned away from the sight, refusing to look.

Lydia took his card. She had no idea what to say to him, and found that her normal inner thoughts that helped her sort out what was going on had shorted out, refusing to function. Instead, she took a few seconds to read what was on the card: his number was on the center, beautifully handwritten with black ink. Below it was his full name, Alvin Edward Ross, signed in flawless cursive.

"I have to apologize for leaving so suddenly, but my first class _is_ on the other side of the school and all. I look forward to hearing from you! Here's to hoping we see each other again soon." He said, turning around, walking away and leaving Lydia at a loss for words holding his card. Everyone watched him leave calmly and without acknowledging anyone else as he went, before they all turned to Lydia. Damien was the first to say something.

"Can I just say... what the fuck just happened? No, seriously. This dude came down here, greeted us, and then started talking to Morgan like everything was normal. And then the moment you walk in he turns into Casanova! What the hell?"

"I need to go. I know what I'm going to be doing tonight..." Jacob mumbled, hurriedly gathering his things and leaving.

"Uh, can _I_ just say... _dayum!_ Where'd he learn to talk to girls like that?" Nathan said, looking in the direction that Alvin walked away.

"There is something that's just _unsettling_ about him. He didn't hesitate for a moment!" Allie remarked.

"Why did Jacob leave all of a sudden?" Nori asked, wanting to go after him.

"You know, I should've seen this coming." Morgan started, crossing her arms as she leaned back in her chair.

"A guy like him would have no trouble getting a girlfriend if he wanted. But he's _never had one,_ and no one knows why. The rumor used to be that he was gay and he was just hiding it, but after _that,_ I don't think anybody will believe it anymore."

Lydia looked back down at the card she'd been given. This was the same kind of paper that business cards were printed out on. It was a certainty that it'd been handwritten instead of made on a computer, because it had personal touches such as a flourish at the end of the final 's' in his last name. The confidence that he spoke to her with was almost unreal, as was the guy himself with his unfailing politeness. It almost felt too good to be true.

 _That really **did** just happen, didn't it? I... what am I supposed to **do** with this? Can I really just ignore him after all that? I don't know. I don't know!_

"Hey, Lydia? Are you okay?" Allie asked, approaching her. She looked at the card Alvin had given her and said,

"Oh, wow. That's some really fancy handwriting. Is this a business card?"

"I'm... I think I've been... starstruck? I don't know what to say about that. That all just happened so fast." Lydia said, noticing that Nori was also coming closer as well. Damien and Nathan hung back and began to talk amongst themselves, and Morgan silently remained where she was.

"I can't imagine what you must be thinking right now! I mean, that's the kind of thing you only see in a movie!" Nori said, beginning to get giddy about the idea that she might actually be living in a movie of sorts. Lydia put the card away and let out a long, nervous sigh.

"Well, I'm not going to forget this day anytime soon, that's for sure. I just hope I don't get a bunch of people I don't know questioning me about it."

"Don't worry. I'll be there with you." Allie assured her.

"Me too! We won't let them bother you." Nori said, confidently smiling.

"But I have to ask," Nori started,

"What _will_ you do about that? Are you going to call him back? If you don't want to, give the card to me and I'll tear it up right now!"

Lydia shook her head, her hand feeling the side in which she'd put the card in. She wasn't sure what she was going to do with it yet, but she _did_ know she didn't want to throw it away.

 _Is he going to start showing up here on a regular basis? Do I want to start using another entrance? Do I **want**_ _to see him again? If I want to keep this card, I guess it means I'm not opposed to the idea... but what kind of guy is he, that he just does things like that without hesitation? I... feel like I have to know, don't I?_

"I'll keep it. I might call him. I don't know. Let's just forget about it and not bring it up again for the rest of today, okay?"

 **Friday, After School - Partly Cloudy**

"He gave _you_ his number? Wow, I didn't think he was into girls!" One of the other girls on the dance team said to Lydia from in front of her seat on the bus. This was Rachel, one of the girls that typically tended to not actually watch the football games in favor of spending time with her boyfriend. As it stood, since this was an away game instead of a home game, Rachel would likely instead spend most of the game on her phone texting her boyfriend instead. At least, that would be the case were it not for some juicy gossip that had originated today...

"Yeah. Can we talk about something else already?" Lydia asked, trying not to give the girls near her any attention. She'd been fortunate enough to get a window seat so that she could just stare out the window, but that hadn't stopped half the dance team from launching variations of the same questions at her in the meantime.

"But why you, though? Is it really just because you're the new girl? Come on, tell us what he said!" The girl that was sitting next to Lydia demanded, followed by shouts of agreement from the girls near her. Her name was Hannah, and while there wasn't anything notable about her usually, the fact that she was into spreading gossip made her really annoying today.

"Do I have to?" Lydia asked, sighing. She turned to address the other girls from her seat.

"That's probably it, okay? He's just interested in someone he's never seen before. I really couldn't tell you any more. That's all he said."

"Come on, that can't really be the only reason. Oh! I bet this isn't the first time you've met, huh? Y'all did something in secret and now he feels like he needs to announce you're _his!_ " Rachel exclaimed, making Lydia shake her head.

"No! Why would he introduce himself to me if it wasn't the first time we met?"

"It doesn't matter why he's into you. What matters is what you're gonna do next! He's basically asking you to date him, you know." Hannah said, nudging Lydia by the shoulder.

"But that's not what he said to me. He said he wanted to get to know me, not that he wanted to go out with me. Why wouldn't he just say it if he wanted to date me?"

In the background, Lydia could see that Carla was edging her way into the aisle seat across from her. The girl that was previously in the seat switched with her, all while the bus was still moving. Lydia dreaded her presence, as anything she said would inevitably turn the tide of the conversation against her. The other girls noticed her presence and briefly waited for her to say something, but instead she remained silent.

"No one really understands a guy like that, Lydia! Why would a guy as hot as him not have a girlfriend like, all the time? Why would he suddenly decide 'Oh, let me give my _business card_ to this chick!' if he wasn't _interested in her?_ " The girl behind her, who Lydia recognized as Anita, said as she popped up from her seat to hang over the top of Lydia's seat.

Lydia looked over to Carla to see what she would do, if anything. She found that the redhead captain was smiling, basking in the sheer entertainment that this conversation was clearly providing for her.

 _I don't know if that's better or worse than her saying something about all of this. Is this an elaborate test or something? Send Alvin after me just to see what would happen? No, that can't be it, can it? But I can't put it past her, either... ugh!_

"Yes, everyone wants to know _why!_ Even you, isn't that right?" Carla said, drawing the attention of everyone who was listening. Lydia wasn't sure if that was supposed to be providing her an out or if it was just another segue into more gossip and speculation, but either way she couldn't ignore that.

"Yeah. I don't- I don't know why he did what he did, nor do I know why he picked _me._ If everyone wants to know that so badly, why don't you ask him yourselves?"

"He's not here right now though." Rachel pointed out, making Lydia sigh and look out the window again. She wondered if Alvin would be going to this game.

 _If he was the announcer at the home games, then surely he must really like football, right? Would he like it and the Falcons enough to go to another school to watch them? If he does, there's no way I could realistically be alone with him. Anything I say or do regarding him is going to get passed around in an instant. There's no way to just let this go, is there?_

"Are you hoping he'll be at the game? Maybe you'll get to ask him then!" Hannah offered. Lydia didn't say anything, already feeling tired out by the conversation.

"She'd be crazy to turn him down," Anita began, turning to address the girls that were listening.

 _Oh, here we go. Now they're going to talk about me like I'm not right here listening to everything the say. I can't believe I'm thinking this, but it's times like this that I wish Carla and Dawn were fighting each other so that **they'd** draw all the attention instead of me. Seriously, Dawn is in this bus, right? But she's all the way at the back. I guess I should be grateful she hasn't thrown something into this fine mess of a stew._

"I mean, what girl wouldn't be thrilled to have a guy like him? You know someone like him is going to hit it big in show business or something. He's the type who would literally throw a parade in his girlfriend's honor. Doesn't that just make you _melt_ at the thought? Seriously, I'm jealous of her."

The girls continued to go on about their theories and opinions regarding Alvin and this morning while Lydia continued to ignore them. Thankfully, they had either lost interest in questioning her or figured that she had nothing more to contribute, so they left her alone until they got to the field at Quartz East. Lydia remembered that Rory, one of the members of Sycophanta, attended this school. She thought for a second that there was a possibility that she might see him here, but was immediately more concerned about seeing Alvin again.

 **Friday, Evening - Partly Cloudy**

Lydia spent most of her time at the game on her phone, trying to be as absorbed in anything else so that she could make herself scarce. She hadn't even watched most of the game, and had immediately found a spot that no one was hanging out in near the field. After waiting the entire first quarter to see if Alvin would show, she concluded that he wasn't here and went to texting her friends.

Of Allie, Lynne, Nori, and Tori, each of the girls had their own reaction to what had been happening to her. Allie apologized for not being able to be there at the game with her. Lynne sympathized with her for having a burning spotlight suddenly cast on her, and texted her opinion that Alvin was hardly the gentleman he seemed if he didn't fully consider the consequences of his actions before he did them. Nori offered to treat her to smoothies and ice cream tomorrow after the training session, which was one of her preferred ways of dealing with stress. Tori marveled at what had happened, saying that she would almost certainly not be allowed to date someone like Alvin without a thorough vetting from her parents to make sure he was the right kind of guy for her.

"Here you are. You're sure good at finding a hole to crawl into when you want to, you know that?" Carla said, popping the bubble of solitude Lydia had tried to maintain the last hour or so.

 _"I've had practice,"_ is what Lydia instinctively wanted to say to her. But given who she was talking to, saying something like that wouldn't go unaddressed to the fullest possible extent. There was no way she would ever talk about Alexander or what happened with him around someone like her.

"What is it?" Lydia asked.

"Halftime's almost here. Hope you still remember how to do the routine right." Carla said, crossing her arms.

"I couldn't forget it if I tried." Lydia responded. Coach Carter, while much more personable than Carla, was still a very tough instructor. She didn't like the idea of everyone not putting their best out on the field, and so her practices were structured such that every dancer would remember and execute the moves as if they were reflexive. That Carla shared the sentiment of not screwing around with dancing was what propelled her to captain over the others, as well as her natural tendency to take the helm if it was available.

"Good. Before you ask me why I didn't send someone else to get you, it's because I wanted to clear something up about you-know-who. Basically, I don't want you blaming me for what happened. Yeah, I told him about you. I didn't tell him to do what he did though. He came up with that bright idea all by himself." Carla said.

"Were you surprised that he did it?" Lydia asked her. Rather than straight up agree or disagree, she had this to say, a sly smile forming on her face.

"I didn't know exactly what he was going to do. I couldn't have predicted it any more than anyone else. But you can trust me on this: he would've found out about you with or without my help. It's honestly surprising that he didn't do it sooner, actually. I told him about you weeks ago. Why he waited until now, I couldn't tell you with any certainty."

Lydia took a moment to absorb that information. Carla dropped her arms to her sides and beckoned to her.

"Think about it later. We have a routine to perform, and I don't need your musing getting in the way of your dancing."

* * *

Thankfully for Lydia, after the game was over most of the girls were too tired to continue gossiping as they had before. The first thing she wanted to do when she got home was go straight to bed. When her parents asked her what had happened and how the game was, all she could muster was a "It's been a long day, I'm tired, good night" before trudging upstairs to her room.

 _My friends were able to keep me safe through the school day, but they couldn't come with me to the football game at Quartz East. I never thought I'd find myself wishing for Carla and Dawn's feud to flare up again. I thought this sort of thing would **stop** when I left Crystal Rapids!_

She took out Alvin's card and felt an urge to rip it to shreds.

 _This is **your fault,** Alvin! If you hadn't done what you did, I wouldn't have had to endure hours of endless questions and rumors from the dance team! And Carla just let it happen, too! That smile of hers, I swear... she says she didn't arrange for that to happen, but she knows people. She knew if she told Alvin about me he'd do **something** crazy. _

She wanted to tear the card to bits, to hop into the valley for just a minute to summon a Persona that would reduce the bits to ashes. But she couldn't bring herself to rend the card, and instead merely left a crease in it from bending it slightly.

 _The worst part is that there's a part of me that can't just ignore you. Someone like you... doesn't just come around every day. I wonder if Carla thought something like that when she met me. Alvin, did you **know** what would happen when you did what you did? You had to have known, right? If you did, did you think about how it would make me feel? Did you think about what would happen to me as a result of your actions?_

"Or I could just tell him personally." Lydia whispered to herself, looking down at the number. She didn't have to stand there merely ranting in her head when she had a direct line to the guy if she wanted to take her frustrations out on him. It was a tempting thought, but she remembered that QIB was going to meet up tomorrow for training and that she was already very tired tonight.

"You're going to hear what I have to say, Mr. _Alvin Edward Ross,_ " She said, mocking his name as she spoke it.

"You're going to hear it and then you're going to explain yourself. I'm not going to let you just do this to me."

 _But... that'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'm so tired. It feels like I slew a hundred Shadows plus an Idol today._

She turned her phone completely off so as to prevent Carla or someone else from sending her a late-night text or call. Once she was ready for bed, she placed the card underneath her phone and then turned off all the lights, making sure the curtain was closed so as to bathe her room in darkness. At the very least, she would have the entire training session tomorrow to take her frustrations out on mindless Shadows, and such a thought soothed her as she fell asleep for the night.

* * *

 **Original upload date: July 18, 2017**

 **A/N: So I figured it's been long enough since I last did this that I'd do it again. Here's a list of all the Social Links Lydia has formed up to this point:**

 **0\. Fool - Quartz Idol Busters  
1\. Magician - Gerald White  
2\. Priestess - Noreen "Nori" Sanchez  
3\. Empress - Carla Simmons  
7\. Chariot - Nathan Young  
8\. Justice - Victoria "Tori" Parker  
9\. Hermit - Allison "Allie" de Luna  
10\. Fortune - Damien Hall  
16\. Tower - Victor  
18\. Moon - F.Z.  
19\. Sun - Jacob Martinez  
(Thoth) 11. Hunger - Lynne Faire  
(Thoth) 20. Aeon - Morgan Hale**

 **As a reminder, I don't keep track of discrete ranks for Social Links. Their progress is measured both by the amount of time Lydia spends with them and the quality of that time. Also, it is very unlikely that all the Links you see will be maxed in this story, and there may be some that will never be started at all. This is to keep the story's main plot from drifting too much out of focus.**

 **RosyMiranto18 - I don't feel like I'm the type to edit TVTropes articles anyway, even if they're not about my work. And well, we haven't quite gotten to the end of next week yet... so you'll have to wait a little while longer to see what happens with that.**

 **Proper Prose - Thanks for the review! Yeah, I've enjoyed taking into account American idiosyncrasies when putting this together.**

 **KnightSpark - Thanks. It largely seems to be the work of one person, who I won't name here for privacy reasons. I don't plan on touching the pages about my fic, but if you or anyone else wants to contribute to them, feel free to do so!**


	55. Chapter 50

**October 24, 2015 - Saturday, Morning - Sunny**

"My offer of ice cream and smoothies still stands if you want to hang out after we're done," Nori said from the passenger seat of Lydia's car. As her car wasn't quite fixed up completely yet and Lydia was the closest to her, she had been the one to go pick her up and take her to Damien's house. Nori's house had been about the same size as Lydia's own, although it was clearly older. She had also brought her choice of clothing to be enchanted by Victor in a shopping bag from Everlasting.

"We usually finish a little before lunch time. But since I'm going to be taking you back home anyways, I guess there isn't any harm in sticking around for a while. We'll have to see what everyone else plans on doing afterwards though. They might want to take you out to lunch somewhere." Lydia responded.

"That's fine. I don't have anything else to do today, so I'm open to ideas." Nori said.

"How's your car doing? Is it going to be fixed soon?" Lydia asked.

"Well, the repairs were supposed to have been finished up earlier this week, but it turned out there were a few other things that needed fixing and it required having to order new parts. Basically that means I won't have it back until next week. So as long as nothing else comes up to halt its progress, this should be the only time you'll have to drive me to our training." Nori answered.

When they got to Damien's house, they noticed that including the one they were in, there were now four vehicles parked there: Damien's car, Nathan's truck, Morgan's car, and then Lydia's car. Upon seeing this, Lydia remarked,

"Actually, I don't know about that. It's already starting to get a little crowded here, and that's before considering that the rest of Damien's family are out doing their morning routine right now."

"Oh, it doesn't matter to me for this. I'm okay with carpooling. I'm more concerned about being able to use my car for school. I like being able to go and come as I please rather than being tied to my parents' schedules." Nori said as Lydia turned the car off.

The two girls went inside and found the rest of QIB all gathered in Damien's living room, with most of the seats already taken. Morgan sat in the middle of the couch with Allie and Lin next to her, whereas Nathan and Jacob sat on the chairs. After letting them in, Damien went and sat on a stool behind the kitchen counter.

"Man, if we get any more people, I'm not gonna have enough places for people to sit down on." Damien remarked.

"This is a nice living room!" Nori said, taking in her surroundings.

"Nori, here. This is your pin." Damien said, taking the yellow pin off of the counter and tossing it to her. Nori caught it with her left hand and inspected it.

"Thank you."

"Oh, while he's doing that... I have your ribbon too." Allie said, getting up from the couch and giving Nori her yellow ribbon. Once she accepted it, she took a look at the couch and figured there was just enough room for her to sit comfortably at the edge. When she had done so, Morgan got up and turned around on the couch to face Lydia, saying,

"We can squeeze you in here, Lydia. Come on!"

"We're going into the valley in a minute, aren't we? I'll just stay here." She responded. Morgan shrugged and sat back down on the couch.

"So, what should I put on this time? Morgan, what do you feel like watching?" Lin asked, gesturing to the massive collection of movies that populated the living room.

"Um, I'm not really much of a movie person. You could put on anything and I'll be cool with it."

"I was hoping you'd help me decide. They're all going to be training, so it's not like they're going to be watching it."

"You two have fun finding something to watch. And just in case you forgot, there's also cable. Yeah, I know. Why do we even pay for it, right?" Damien said, getting off of his stool and making his way towards the stairs where the upper bathroom was.

"Let's get going already. Everyone's here now." He said, prompting the rest of the Persona-users that had been sitting down to stand up. Allie went upstairs with Damien, and Jacob and Nathan made for the downstairs bathroom.

"Why are we splitting up? Is there a limit on how many people can use a mirror at once?" Nori asked.

"Not that I know of. But since we all leave one after the other, it's just easier to have two separate exits so it doesn't get too cramped. The bathroom mirrors are the easiest ones to use, so that's why we use those. You can use either one, but I'd suggest using the downstairs one so you don't have to navigate the stairs in the event you become exhausted afterwards." Lydia said, pointing in the direction the guys went.

"Okay. I'll do that. I guess I'll see you inside, then!" Nori said, grasping her mirror and nodding in anticipation. Once she went down the hall, Lydia went upstairs and then proceeded to enter the valley.

"Up to five on the frontline now, huh?" F.Z. asked as she took a gander at the newest lineup of Persona-users. Jacob had already taken his spot in the skies and was waiting for the group to get started.

"Yep. That means there'll be less for each individual person to do unless the number of Shadows increased since we last came here. Has it, F.Z.?" Lydia asked. F.Z. shook her head, saying,

"The _number_ hasn't increased, but they've all gotten stronger, just like before. You guys might have to watch Nori's back since she's new and probably not half as strong as the rest of you."

"I'll do my best to not get in your way." Nori said, her determination apparent to the rest of the group.

"Hey, you never actually told us what your Persona could do. You should be able to call up her abilities just by thinking about them." Damien said. Nori nodded, and closed her eyes as she focused on Frigg's presence within her. Without saying a word, several powers made themselves known to her.

"Two ice attacks, Bufula and Mabufula. Rakunda, which lowers defense. Diarama, which heals. And Counterstrike, which allows me to turn physical energy back at its user if I see an opening. It seems that when I get stronger, I'll learn better abilities. Is that right?" Nori asked, opening her eyes.

"Precisely. But wow, you already have the stronger versions of Bufu and Mabufu! I wonder if that isn't because the Shadows had gotten stronger than when Damien and I faced our Idols?" Allie said, adjusting her glasses.

"Think you answered your own question there. So, Lydia. Where do you want to go first?" Damien asked. Lydia immediately looked over towards the movie theater that had served as Nori's dungeon and remembered what had happened every time they saved someone from their Idol: there was a doppelganger Shadow left behind in a quartz cocoon on the site of where they faced the Idol, and it was always capable of stronger skills than the original person at the time they got their Persona.

 _So if Nori already has the second-tier Bufu skills, I wonder if that doesn't mean..._

 _"Bufudyne. That would be the name you are looking for."_ Ophelia spoke to her from within.

 _"And yes, based on previous experiences I would fully expect to face it, along with more previously unseen abilities. It would be prudent to ask Damien to remain in reserve when you face that Shadow."_

 _Yeah, you're right. I'm sure he won't mind, though._

"Let's start at the warehouse and work our way through the dungeons in order. But since there are more now, we won't go all the way through them. Jacob, did you get that?" Lydia said, looking towards the sky where Jacob had found a spot beneath a cloud to hover in.

"Yep! Everything's clear up here! And oh, there's something I should tell you about before you get going. Remember how there was that Shadow in the cocoon when you guys went to revisit my dungeon? Well, there's another one here in the field where you guys fought Nori's Idol!" He told them all, trying to peer within the cocoon to no avail. It radiated with the moving zebra stripes that were characteristic of the Idols before they went berserk, but as its energy seemed to remain steady, there was no danger of it bursting open in the next few hours or so.

"He's right. Thing's even bigger than usual, though I wonder if that's because of its power or because it's copying _her."_ F.Z. said, pointing at Nori. She was, without a doubt, the most full-figured girl on QIB. In F.Z.'s mind, Morgan, Lin, Lydia, and especially F.Z. herself were all twigs compared to her. Allie was the only one who came even remotely close to matching Nori's curves.

"Copying me? What do you mean?" Nori asked, looking at herself with a measure of self-consciousness. She also just realized that Jacob was not beside them as he spoke, but spoke in their heads as clearly as if he was next to them. She looked up to see where he was and noticed the shape of Icarus in the sky underneath the cloud.

"Every time someone's been saved from their Idol, the valley spawns this Shadow copy of them in the dungeon they were found in, always where the Idol was fought. We don't know why the valley does it, but our policy has always been to get rid of them to make sure they don't cause any trouble for us later down the road." Allie explained.

"Oh, man. Remember what happened when we tried to take out Damien's Idol? Another whole dungeon just spawned on us when we were training after I was the newest member to join the team and it screwed us all up. Good thing we have Jacob watching out for anything like that now." Nathan said, recalling that they'd had to go and squash both his and Damien's doppelganger after the fact. They had gotten stronger than the Shadows around them, even as the Shadows themselves became stronger over time.

"Yeah, I definitely won't miss that. You guys should be able to focus just on your training."

"His Persona is an analytical one. He watches from the skies and scans the area for us, telling us where Shadows are as well as information about them." Lydia explained to Nori, who looked over to her and nodded. She had almost forgotten about the bag of clothes she had taken into the valley with her to have enchanted, and handed the bag out for Lydia to take.

"I see. Didn't you want to have this enchanted before we started, though?"

"Of course. Just give me a minute. I'll be right back." Lydia said, taking the bag from her and heading for the Velvet Room. When she disappeared into thin air, Nori was surprised yet again and had it explained to her by the others what the Velvet Room was and how it worked, as well as how Lydia was the only one able to access it.

Meanwhile, Lydia met with Victor again. She hadn't seen what the clothes were that Nori had picked and found them to be a very curious selection; a jean jacket sporting a very dark blue color, paired with jeans of the same dark color, alongside a plain t-shirt that was a specific color of blue that she recognized as periwinkle. It would've likely made a great outfit for when the temperatures got cooler, but there was definitely something deliberate about what she had picked.

"So, you are up to five other Persona-users fighting by your side now. It would seem you certainly have no shortage of allies now." Victor remarked as he brought out the Compendium for Lydia to pore over. While she looked for a suitable Persona to infuse into the clothing, she said,

"You're right. A lot has changed since I first came here, and I'm sure a lot more will change by the time this is all over."

"It has been said that the only constant in life is change. I do not know who first said it, but it has always struck me as something of an oxymoron that the only unchanging thing is change itself. Yet that certainly seems to be one of the things that defines the human condition, is it not?" Victor said.

"Yeah." Lydia picked out the Persona she meant to infuse Nori's outfit with, and Victor did the task swiftly and silently. Once he was done, Lydia gathered the clothes back into the shopping bag and thanked him for his service.

"Oh, before I go, I have to ask. Igor, when do you think Victor will be able to leave the Velvet Room again?" She asked of him as she made her way towards the exit.

"You may ask him to go with you at whatever time is convenient for you. My concern is primarily that he experiences your world at the proper pace, and it would seem that in his case he is ready to venture out into it once more. However, do remember that you are under no obligation to take him with you." Igor responded, looking to his assistant as he spoke.

"I appreciate your just evaluation, Master. Lydia, please let me know the next time you are ready to have me. I an sure that whatever experience you decide to give to me next will be an enjoyable and fulfilling one." Victor said.

"Okay. Well, I'm going to be really busy in the next couple of weeks, so probably not until after all of that settles down. I think we were going to go to see a play in about three weeks or so, so maybe you'll be able to come with me then." Lydia wondered how he would react to seeing _Hamlet;_ surely someone with his kind of knowledge understood it far better than anyone on QIB did. The interesting part would come both from that and his reaction to seeing high school students perform it rather than say, a professional troupe.

"Very well. I look forward to it." He said. Lydia left the Velvet Room and came back to see that everyone was patiently waiting for her. F.Z. brought up a wall of quartz for Nori to change behind, and once she had changed into her outfit, the group made for the warehouse to start their training. When they had gotten to the vine fence, four Shadows appeared from the pieces of quartz nearest them. They were of the same exact shape as the ones Lydia first encountered, with the same mask and everything.

"They're weak to electricity and strong against earth." Jacob let them know, more for Nori's benefit as she was the only one to not have faced these Shadows yet. Nori took a deep breath and closed her eyes, brandishing her mirror in her left hand. She looked over to Lydia and said,

"I hope you don't mind that I make the first move here." Her voice had shifted again, once again taking on that serious tone that Lydia recalled from their meeting earlier in the week. But rather than come across as grave like it had before, it had the effect of sounding both courteous and cold to her.

"No problem. We'll be sure to follow up. Nathan, be ready to go after her."

"Alright." Nathan responded as he readied himself.

"Queen of Destiny, come to me! Let us unmake our enemies! Mabufula!" Nori shouted, flourishing her mirror as it became consumed by flames and tossing it away as it disappeared to give rise to her Persona. Frigg channeled energy into her staff and with a wave of it caused sharp ice crystals to form around each Shadow that exploded after a second. Each of them recoiled from the attack, but one of them in particular lunged at Nori with its claws. She took the hit and flinched, looking at herself to see where the wound was and was pleased to see that there wasn't any indication of a claw mark whatsoever - the pain and loss of stamina from the attack was the only thing that was there.

"My. That's quite convenient!" She exclaimed, beginning to feel more excited as she awaited Nathan's follow-up.

"Let's do it, Tepeyollotl! Mazionga!" He called out, and his Persona answered with a hail of lightning bolts on each of the Shadows. Each connected, knocking them all down and stunning them.

"We have them on the ropes now! What do we do next?" Nori asked of Lydia.

"When they're unable to act like that, we do a combination attack between two or more of us called a Fusion Spell. Since they're all still alive, we should try combining your Mabufula with one of our attacks." She said. Damien stepped up and said,

"Let me do this, Lydia. The rest of you shouldn't waste your energy on these guys. Nori, when I say the word 'Maragilao', you throw Mabufula at them again, alright?" Damien said to Nori. She nodded, and prepared to cast her spell.

"Ra, it's time! Let's burn 'em up! Now, Maragilao!"

When Damien's Persona came forth, Nori's appeared a second after. The two of them focused their attacks on the downed mob of Shadows, causing the ice crystals to merge with the plumes of flame and immediately react to make several explosions of steam that melted the Shadows into puddles of black goo. Once the attack resolved, Ra commented on it as he turned to face Frigg.

 _"Ice and fire together make for quite a volatile combination, don't you think? I believe we should call that attack Steam Burst."_

 _"An accurate description. Would that I could think of a better name! But that one will suit it just fine. We have yet to realize the true depths of our power, after all. A good name would be wasted on anything less."_ Frigg responded before both Personas dissipated. Nori turned to Damien and said,

"That was nice. Do we get to do that often?" He smiled back at her and said,

"Every time we manage to knock them all down like that. We're just getting started here, so I bet you'll see it at least... I dunno, twenty more times before we're done? We've gotten really good at this since the actual Shadows in each dungeon don't change other than getting stronger."

"I see. Then let us continue. Lydia?" Nori looked to her to lead the way.

* * *

After a while, the team had completed their rounds of all the currently existing dungeons, and now stood before the cocoon that contained Nori's Shadow doppelganger. Jacob took a moment to explain what he could about the unusual Shadow clones that spawned.

"From what I've seen and what I've heard, the Shadows inside these use the same abilities that their original can, but some of them are stronger. Like, Nori uses Bufula, right? So it's very likely we'll see this thing use Bufudyne, the next class of ice spell, on us. But while they're powerful, they're not as smart as Idols are. They don't even speak properly, but they do have a nasty tendency to sound like the person they're copying with their growls and screams."

"I see. That does sound unsettling. So if it will use my abilities..." Nori trailed off, looking over towards Damien. He picked up on what she was about to say before she said it and said,

"Oh, I get it. You want me to sit this one out because if I eat a Bufudyne, it's going to make things worse for everybody. Yeah, that's a good idea. Let me put Tarukaja on everybody before I go though."

Once he had done that, Jacob calculated how far Damien would have to be to not draw the attention of the Shadow resting within the cocoon and found that he would have to be on the outside of the field that marked the dungeon's boundary. When Damien had made his way over there, F.Z. took a moment to kick the cocoon and cross her arms.

"Still as sturdy as ever. Lydia, you got that flaming pumpkin Persona, right? You can blast it with fire before switching to something that resists ice." She said, beginning to walk away from the cocoon.

"Yes. Get ready, everyone. This'll be the last thing we do today, so let's finish strong!" Lydia said, bringing Pyro Jack to the forefront of her mind.

"Pyro Jack, let's do it!"

She called out to her Persona, who came forth in a burst of blue flame from her mirror. After a resounding hee-ho from him, the cocoon was cracked open by Agilao, revealing the Shadow within. It was as everyone expected: a Shadow possessed of Nori's figure wearing a mask the same color as her mirror. Instead of actual hair, it had several long, wavy tendrils coming down from its head to give the appearance of hair. It seemed briefly dazed by the attack, which allowed Lydia to quickly switch over to King Frost before it took notice of her.

"Frigg, Rakunda!" Nori called out, summoning her Persona. Frigg pointed her staff at the Shadow, weakening its defenses.

"Now, Tarunda!" Allie said, bringing forth Medusa. The Shadow's strength was sapped as Nathan prepared his attack.

"Our turn now! Fatal End!" Tepeyollotl appeared and tackled the Shadow, making it let out a scream in a voice that was very much like Nori's.

"Jacob, it resists ice, right?" Lydia asked. From the skies, Jacob focused his attention on the Shadow and saw that there was a fortified shield where its ice affinity was, signaling that it was completely immune to ice. A cracked shield appeared where its fire affinity was as well. He also noticed that it was immune to both light and dark attacks.

"It completely nullifies it! It's also immune to Hama and Mudo skills. It's weak to fire, so focus on using that when you get a chance!" He relayed to her.

"I see. Well, guess this will have some use after all. King Frost! Ice Break!" As Lydia called out his name, the Emperor of Frost came forth and let out a heavy, resounding hee-ho before causing an icy barrier that had been surrounding the Shadow to shatter.

"There, Nori! You should be able to hurt it with ice for a little while now!"

"Thanks!" Nori responded. The Shadow turned its attention to her and seemed to deliberate for a second before abruptly turning to Allie and letting out a shriek as its slashed in her direction, causing a massive block of ice to quickly crystallize on top of her before exploding.

"B-B-Bufudyne. So... cold." Allie said, suddenly wishing she had put on two or three heavy coats as she shivered from the attack. Nori looked from her to the Shadow and said,

"You are nothing more than a terrible imitation! Fall!" Frigg came forth and cast Bufula on the Shadow, which startled it as the attack connected and damaged it. It managed to keep its footing, which meant there was no extra opening to exploit.

"Weak to fire. I think we can do this... Pyro Jack!" Lydia said, calling on the fiery pumpkinhead once more. His Agilao hit the Shadow and made it shriek as it fell on its back, now vulnerable. Earlier in their rounds, QIB had found that not every combination of elements was viable for use in Fusion Spells, as trying to combine ice, fire, water, earth, and electricity all at once just resulted in a mishmash of individual attacks that could not produce a more powerful attack.

"Nori, Nathan, with me!" Lydia called out. Allie recognized the attack they were about to do and held back, letting them do their thing.

"Very well!"

"You got it!"

"Ready! Let us call down the strength of Steamed Electrocution!" Upon hearing the name, all three of them cast their spells. Fire and ice came together and reacted violently to expel a cloud of steam, which was then supercharged by the electricity to do significant electric and water damage to the Shadow. It let out an agonizing scream that made everyone within range to hear it shudder, Nori especially. It then roused itself, growling in a deep voice before appearing to try and tear its "hair" out. Before anyone could question its behavior, pillars of ice surrounded everyone and exploded on top of them. Having not had a chance to dodge the attack, the attack crippled Lydia and put her on the ground. Nori watched as time seemed to speed up for the Shadow, as it released another set of huge, exploding icicles before anybody else could make a move. Even with her own resistance to ice, the back-to-back Mabufudynes left her feeling tired, to say nothing of Lydia who was barely able to move afterwards.

"Damn it! Lydia, are you OK?!" Nathan shouted, immediately calling on his Persona to heal everyone with Mediarama. Jacob focused on her and saw that she was perhaps a precisely-directed sneeze from losing consciousness. He had fully expected her to go down from that, but somehow she had held on.

"I'm... still up. Now... I'm really glad I updated our enchantments. Between that and Tarunda I wouldn't have made it otherwise." Lydia said, bringing herself to her feet. She searched through her mind for a Persona with Mediarama and came up with Undine, a woman made of blue-colored water with long, flowing blonde hair.

"There. Undine, heal us!" Undine appeared and scattered a fine mist onto the party, restoring them near to where they were before the Shadow attacked them.

"You couldn't have brought something with fire that isn't also weak to ice?" F.Z. asked, chucking a rock at the Shadow that harmlessly phased through it.

"Sorry. I should have thought through my Persona fusions more. I won't use that again. It's too risky." Lydia said.

"Better to not be hit at all! Sukunda!" Allie said, commanding Medusa to sap the Shadow of its agility.

"Bufula." Nori spoke, her tone curt. The Shadow took the hit, still appearing surprised that ice could damage it. It responded not by flinging more ice at them, but by throwing its head back and letting out an ear-piercing shriek that even Damien could catch the faintest winds of even as far away as he was from the battle. Nori felt nothing, but saw that the others had been adversely affected; Lydia had wrapped herself in her arms and was shivering with her eyes closed, Allie had tossed her mirror onto the ground and decided to run away from the Shadow as fast as she could, and Nathan had dropped to his knees, his hands gripping his head as he was trying to suppress some kind of intense stress.

"Fucking fear. Nori, I'll go snap Allie out of it. You have a Me Patra Gem. Just throw it in the air and it'll work! Now!" F.Z. said before disappearing into the winds to go fetch Allie. Nori reached into her pocket for the small rock she had been given and threw it into the air above the other QIB members. It activated and scattered its energy onto them, snapping them out of their terrified state. Nori looked over to see that F.Z. had tripped Allie over, and slapped her in the face before helping her up.

"Thanks." As Allie returned closer to the group, the Shadow seemed to have ignored what they were doing, the glowing dots for eyes it had behind its mask suddenly flashing before it released a long, deep, echoing wail, making everybody within range flinch. From on high, Icarus informed Jacob that the attack the Shadow had just used was called Ghastly Wail.

"That was Ghastly Wail! If you're in an intense state of fear and you hear that, you go down instantly! It doesn't do anything if you're not terrified, though." He relayed the information to the team.

"Good thing you were quick enough on the gem, Nori!" F.Z. said.

"Good thing you were quick to remind me of it!" Nori responded.

"Okay. I think I've just had about enough of this..." Lydia said, trying to recall the fury that filled her when she fought the doppelganger Shadow in Jacob's dungeon. This particular Shadow hadn't gone as far as mind controlling her, but it needed to go down sooner rather than later. She found her fury when she remembered Alvin and his antics from the other day, and channeled that into her next action.

 _If I can't use fire to bring it down without exposing myself to a counter, then the only other way to be sure is by using physical force. And since I can't take it out on **him,** then that means..._

"Setanta!" She shouted her Persona's name, bringing him forth in a plume of blue flames. He sensed her killing intent and readied his spear.

"Rip it apart. Tempest Slash!" As she said those words, she felt a huge surge of her energy leave her as Setanta charged at the Shadow. He ran it through with his spear before hoisting into the air and leaping skyward with it still impaled. He drove the spear into the ground and dissipated as soon as he did so, leaving the Shadow on its back and defenseless. Lydia felt her legs wobble beneath her as she struggled to remain standing.

"Go! Don't worry about the Fusion Spells, just finish it off, now!" She said to the others, unable to contribute to the barrage of attacks herself.

"You got it! Rampage!" Nathan called out, sending Tepeyollotl to wreak havoc on the Shadow.

"Magnara!" Allie said, adding her attack to the fray.

"This will do it! Frigg, Bufula!" Nori shouted, summoning her other self. With a wave of her staff, she completed the battering of the Shadow by freezing it with ice once more. The Shadow grabbed at its mask with its hands in pain, its cries of agony silenced by its crystallization into quartz that broke apart into several pieces that were glossy and transparent. When it was over, F.Z. immediately moved over to it and created a basket of quartz to gather the Shadow's remains in.

"What are you doing?" Nori asked. Nathan healed up Lydia, allowing her to stand up straight once more.

"When we kill these things, they turn into a bunch of quartz bits that Lydia sells off to the Velvet Room for a shitton of money. Also, fun fact: I can't manipulate this quartz at all. Watch." F.Z. grabbed one of the pieces of clear quartz and attempted to crush it with her hand. It didn't crack in the slightest, and F.Z. dropped it back into the basket after Nori had seen what happened.

"I wonder why that is?" She asked.

"Hell if I know. Might be because this was a Shadow. Let's get back to the entrance. Can't open a portal over here, remember?"

After the group returned to the entrance, Damien whistled as he saw the haul of quartz pieces in the basket.

"Looks like we're about to see another big windfall of cash," He remarked. F.Z. handed the basket to Lydia, who said to him,

"Yep! It makes all this training so much more worth it." She looked down at the quartz and smiled, before making her way to the Velvet Room to see how much Victor would give her for it.

"We all get an equal share of the money. That means you'll have a lot more spending money now." Allie explained to Nori.

"Except for me, because it's not like I can spend it on anything in here." F.Z. added.

"How much is a lot more?" She asked. Jacob came down from the skies as Damien elected to answer her question.

"We just came from a convention where Allie and I both spent hundreds of dollars each on stuff from there. I dunno what you two are doing with your money, but this beats pretty much any other job a high schooler can have in terms of cash flow." Damien gestured to Jacob and Nathan.

"I've bought lots of art supplies. They're kind of expensive." Jacob said, recalling all the new stuff he had gotten with the money he got from last time.

"Actually been saving up some of it for college. The rest I spent on movies, music, and some new gym equipment to put in my garage." Nathan said.

"What do you tell people who ask you where you got the money?" Nori asked. Everyone looked at each other, seeing if someone would give her an answer. In that moment, Lydia emerged from the Velvet Room beaming and holding six separate stacks of cash.

"Here you go, everyone!" She said, her voice almost singsong as she handed the Persona-users their money. When Lydia came around to Nori, she looked at the money and saw that it was a stack of $100 bills, and then asked her the same question she had just asked the rest of the group.

"No one's ever asked, at least not that I know of. Now that I think about it, it sounds odd that our parents wouldn't have asked where all this extra money is coming from... but they haven't. Can't say I'm complaining, though!" Lydia said, looking as chipper as sunshine.

"That's... odd. I suppose it _would_ be difficult to come up with a believable story. I mean, 'I found it on the ground' doesn't work very well for large amounts or multiple times." Nori said, trying to consider some kind of excuse to explain the months' worth of part-time wages she now held.

"Don't worry about it. Just don't go flaunting around what you buy in people's faces and it'll be fine." Damien reassured her.

"If you say so. But... what would I _do_ with all this money?" She asked.

"Save it. Spend it on stuff you want. It's up to you, really." Damien responded.

"I guess that means we're done here in the valley, right?" Jacob asked, looking to Lydia. After she had pocketed her cash, she addressed the group.

"Yep! We got a lot of work done today. Nori, you caught onto the flow of things pretty quickly. I think you'll be ready the next time we have to deal with another Idol. Let's go back and take a break. F.Z., if you would?"

F.Z. formed a large quartz knife in her hand and grasped it tightly. Before she tore open a portal, she said to everyone,

"Before you guys leave, let me just say something. You see the skies above us?" She pointed towards the cloudy sky with her knife. It was fully overcast, the sun no longer visible through the clouds.

"When Lydia and Allie first showed up here, it was completely sunny. There wasn't a single cloud in sight. It was like that for as long as I can remember being here, long before those two even showed up. The clouds only started appearing once you guys came in and started saving people from their Idols, and the Shadows only started getting stronger when QIB started doing their thing too. So it doesn't take a genius to figure out that whatever's really behind this is upping their game just like we are. You guys did good today, but if you can, I'd get your asses back in here for more training at least once before the end of next week. I don't think we can be _too strong_ to face whatever Idol is probably gonna show up then."

After she was done speaking, she let out a rushed sigh that she seemed surprised she was holding in. She shook her head and then turned away from the group to rip open the portal with her knife. She flicked the portal with her finger before moving away from it to let the group through.

"See you later, F.Z." Jacob said, being the first one to leave.

"Until next time." Damien said, leaving after him.

"We'll see what we can do." Allie said as she followed behind him.

"Yeah, I'd definitely be up for more training." Nathan said to F.Z. as he left.

"I'll try and make some time, okay? Thanks for being concerned about us." Nori said, smiling at F.Z. to try and reassure her before she stepped through the portal. When it was just Lydia remaining, F.Z. reached down to rip a patch of grass out of the ground, making it wither and fall seconds after she picked it up.

"I can't explain it, Lydia. I feel like something bad is going to happen when the next Idols show up. That when it starts raining in the valley, we're screwed."

"We'll be sure to make time to train again before that happens. You're right. We can't be overprepared with something like this. If we could devote more of our time to it, I'm certain we'd be here every day. But... well, we can't do that _and_ not have it significantly affect our normal lives. We'd either draw suspicion from missing our normal activities or burn ourselves out from all the stress of trying to lead two lives at once." Lydia said. F.Z. conjured up a pillar of quartz as tall as she was and started hacking away at it with her knife, sending bits of rock flying about.

"If people knew that you were the reason why the disappearances stopped happening, they'd be okay with you putting in more time here. But yeah, I know you can't just tell people. They either wouldn't believe you or think you're some kind of freak and call the CIA on you or something. Hell, it's not just the Idols that bother me. Sycophanta is still growing stronger. Whoever we didn't save is gonna join them. And remember, we still haven't gotten to fight Lynne yet. Not for real. We _have_ to be ready to face her, 'cause we can't keep dodging her forever." F.Z.'s knife snapped at the middle after another strike to the pillar, and she reduced both it and the pillar to dust before crossing her arms worriedly.

"I know. We'll do everything we can, okay? I know it doesn't always feel like enough. But we _will_ get through this, no matter what." Lydia said as she pocketed her cash. F.Z. placed her hand on top of the portal and said,

"Yeah. I know. Just... this right here is the most useful thing I can do now. Sure, there was that thing I did to stop Jacob's Idol, but that was a case of being in the right place at the right time and not having any other options. Jacob is way better at navigating and reading enemies than I'll ever be. With Sycophanta, I'm nothing more than a distraction to them. If my quartz could actually hurt people, I'd be pretty badass, but I... wait a second." F.Z. stopped, looking at the large pile of quartz dust that was in front of her. Even the dust would disappear into nothing after long enough, but it did stay dust for a while.

"What is it?" Lydia asked. F.Z. crouched down and gathered a handful of quartz dust. She threw it into the air, creating a cloud that quickly dissipated. Lydia watched as she grabbed another handful of it and focused on it intensely. The dust was forced into a rough sphere at her will, shaking in midair just above her palm. F.Z. blew on the sphere of dust and sent it scattering in a cone in front of her, smiling as she saw how wide the angle was.

"This. I can't believe I didn't think of it before. Dust. I can throw the dust in their eyes. I can pop in and out of the winds whenever I want, and I take objects I hold with me when I do that. It wouldn't work on Shadows, but Sycophanta isn't a bunch of Shadows. Lynne and Valerie couldn't see me behind the wall of quartz I put up to stall them when you guys were fighting Nori's Idol. I can do this to screw with them when we _do_ fight them!"

The portal collapsed behind her after she finished speaking. After tearing open a new one, F.Z. said to Lydia,

"It ain't much, but we need everything we can get. I'll practice doing this. Finally, I'm not just playing around with rocks."

"Looks like we all have something we can work on in the meantime, then. We'll be back as soon as we can, okay?" Lydia said, approaching the portal.

"Gotcha. See ya then."

* * *

 **Original upload date: September 10, 2017**

 **A/N: So, in case you happen to be reading this several years from now, this is about the time in which Hurricane Irma made landfall, within a couple of weeks of Hurricane Harvey. You might have seen previously that Quartz is approximately where League City, Texas, is located, meaning it would have received significant flooding from Harvey. While the continuity of this story is not quite square with reality in terms of weather activity, I could not help but wonder how the characters would have dealt with Harvey.**

 **RosyMiranto18 - I appreciate the reminder about the Social Links. Also, I dunno that "cowboy" is something I'd associate with Alvin, but hey, different perspectives. And lol, I'm back to 2 months again. Oh well.**


	56. Chapter 50 - Alternate Viewpoint

**A/N: This is a bonus chapter, but like the alternate Chapter 30, this one _is canon_ to the story. You _could_ skip this and not be lost in the following chapters, but then'd you miss out on an extra opportunity to see things from Lynne's perspective.**

* * *

 **October 24, 2015 - Saturday, Morning - Sunny - Lynne's Viewpoint**

I stretch my arms and yawn as I sit up in my bed. I reach for my phone and check the time; it's 7:41 in the morning, or about 20 minutes earlier than I would've liked to get up. On most Saturdays, I don't have anything special to do. I sleep in, watch TV, listen to music, and even play some video games if I feel like it. Oh, and finish whatever schoolwork I didn't get to do.

But no.

Today is not most Saturdays. Because based on Rosalia's information, it's almost certain that the next Idol event will occur at the end of next week. Unfortunately, she couldn't be any more precise than that, which means there's a non-trivial chance it'll happen during the homecoming dance and ruin it for us. The rest of the group knows this too, and has done what they can to clear their schedules next weekend in case the event should happen on Halloween proper. There was also talk of strengthening ourselves by sparring in the valley today, but that was shot down for multiple reasons:

Rory's on a weekend fishing trip with his father today, one that had been planned weeks in advance.

Valerie vehemently refused the idea of any sort of exertion on the weekend, as she had complained of being exhausted from her previous work week.

Corbin said no, confident that we were already far above Lydia's group and had nothing to worry about if it came to a full-on brawl.

Gina was the only one who was fully on board with it, as her schedule was similar to mine. From getting to know her over the previous week, it turns out we get along pretty well with each other. She's the daughter of Fulton's chemistry teacher, Ms. Alvarez, and is on track to be the valedictorian of her graduating class. Apparently she's competing with two other people that I've never met, and likely won't unless she decides to introduce them to me at school.

My phone shakes in my hand. I raise it to see what had happened, and it looks like there's a text from Valerie.

"fkoff its notevn8"

I'm about to question when I sent her something before I realize she didn't mean to send _me_ something. Among other things, one of the woes of Valerie's life is a constant stream of one-night stands, all of which are the result of her waiting around at bars until they close and going with whoever will take her. Since I'm the only person she knows that's willing to listen to her, I'm occasionally on the end of rants about how men are spineless, slimy cowards that somehow also manage to be worth going home with for a night of... and I'd rather not dwell on the rest. It's too depressing.

"This is Lynne, Valerie." I respond. I get out of my bed and start getting ready for the day. The phone vibrates again as I'm halfway dressed, and I look over to see what it says.

"damit sry"

"stil goin 2 valy?"

Two messages back to back. I put my shorts on and tell her yes, and that I plan on eating breakfast before heading into the valley at around 9:30, which is the time that Gina and I had agreed upon to go into the valley. I don't get a response until 9:10, which is long after I've already gone to breakfast and come back to my room. It's a lot more coherent than before, which means she must be actually awake now.

"I'll go."

"But no fighting."

"Just want 2 get away fro the world."

It's better than nothing, I guess. At the very least, she'll get to watch Gina and I test ourselves against each other and maybe learn something by osmosis. Gina's Persona, Aura, has healing capabilities and can easily restore us to full if the need arises. I know I won't be disturbed until lunch, and Gina is going to be busy the rest of the day, so this'll be the only time between now and the Idol event that we'll get to do something like this.

"Okay. See you there at 9:30."

When the time comes, I call my mirror to my hand. That Lydia's group and ours both use these to call upon our Personas says a lot, actually: we both wield the same power, and call upon it in the same way. But the difference between us is that as a result of willingly accepting the call to become our greatest possible selves, Sycophanta has a lot more strength to work with than our opponents. Lydia's group has had to work much harder just to be able to keep up with us, only being able to win with a numbers advantage and the lack of experience that most of us have in battle.

 _If you actually focused on getting rid of them, there's no way they'd be able to stand up to all of you at once._

Rosalia. My other self. She's had a habit of voicing the thoughts that lurk in the depths of my heart. Being made from the hidden side of my soul, she says the things that I normally wouldn't or couldn't. She appears as my reflection in the mirror, and she says something else right before I teleport into the valley.

 _We shall be the vanguard for a new and better world. Once we get past this clunky, clandestine phase, we will see so many people come to accept their better selves. It won't always be this hard. All we have to do is help guide its growth to a beautiful and lasting blossom._

And then I become a better me, finding myself in the valley.

I see Gina has made her way to the valley easily and without issue. Her new self is quite a lovely sight, easily the best rebirth since my own. To see her now fully one with herself makes for quite the reassurance. She cracks her knuckles and says to me,

"There you are. Where do you want to go for our little sparring match?"

Before I can answer her question, Valerie appears near the two of us. She breathes a sigh of relief at seeing herself elevated once more.

"Oh, Valerie! Have you changed your mind about joining us for training?" Gina asks, lowering her sunglasses to reveal her eyes to Valerie. Valerie shakes her head and responds,

"Absolutely not! I'm only here because I can't stand the constant annoyances plaguing me back in the other world. You two can fight each other all you like; I'm only here to watch."

"Aw, that's a disappointment. Well, it wouldn't be very productive if you weren't going to try, so I guess it'll just be Lynne and I. Hey, that rhymed!"

According to what I heard her Idol tell her before she accepted her, one of Gina's foremost desires in life is to loosen up and not have to worry about the pressure that comes with being on the top. So it comes as no surprise that her reborn self embodies these ideals, as a woman with all the treasures of intelligence and none of the drawbacks.

"We shouldn't remain here. You know they have someone watching over this area. Come. Let's make our way before she notices we're here." I say, and begin to lead the other two far away from the remains of the Nests. Without saying a word, Rosalia draws my attention to how much stronger the Shadows have grown since we last were here. Yes, they've continued to draw energy from the valley via the Nests, with each one left behind providing them even further strength.

"Hey, if the Shadows here are getting stronger, why don't you guys beat up on those for your training rather than fighting each other? Wouldn't you tire less quickly that way?" Valerie asks.

"It's not about the quantity of our training, but rather the quality, you see." I begin, glancing back at her.

"The Shadows that infest the Nests are mindless and have little to no idea of what strategy is. They are only threatening due to their numbers, brute strength, and ability to pounce on unsuspecting victims. But our enemies have figured out that destroying them allows them to absorb some of their power for themselves, something we ourselves cannot take advantage of because it would take far too long to see meaningful results from it. Rather, for us to develop our strength, we must practice against opponents of the same caliber, and the only ones that fulfill this requirement are ourselves."

"Uh huh. Yeah, that numbers thing is on point, because remember how I was humiliated by _them_ about three weeks ago? Did you _really think_ I was strong enough to take them all on by myself?" She asks, crossing her arms and scowling at me.

"Yes. But I was wrong. And adjusting our group composition to send two of us clearly wasn't enough, either. You do not need to remind me of that. But we do not want another... what do you call it? Wisp? Coming into being and further frustrating our plans. Without our guidance, it is very possible that whoever the valley draws in next will defend their inferior selves to the death as _she_ did. And when that happens, they are of no use to us. And supposing that was not an issue, if we were not there to give them the knowledge they need, they would be much more difficult to recruit to our cause. Those are not chances I am willing to take. Were there enough of us to adequately cover all of our bases, we would be much better off - but our power does not include the ability to be in multiple places at once."

"If I may... suppose the next Idol event calls two people, as it's done previously." Gina says, deciding to offer her own thoughts on the situation. She pauses for a moment, clearly awaiting my approval to continue.

"Go on." I say. She nods. She then spends the rest of our walk talking about the possible outcomes of the next Idol event, and what would have to happen to make each outcome true as well as the various ways it could do so. Since there only needs to be one of us present at each Nest to provide guidance and our enemies only have the resources to deal with one Nest at a time, her plan is to send a single individual to each Nest and have the rest of us confront the opposition.

"It'd be up to you as to who we trust with each particular duty." She concludes. We're now standing far away from the Nests and in a place less likely to be visited by the ghost. Unfortunately, there is no way for us to completely ensure we cannot be discovered by her, but this will have to do.

"I see. Go stand over there. Valerie, give us some space."

"This is probably the most entertaining thing I'll see all week." Valerie says as she goes to stand at a fair distance from the two of us. Gina is about a stone's throw away from me. I ready my mirror and say to her,

"Do not insult me by holding back, Gina. If we are to get the most from this, we must be willing to push our limits!"

"Disappointment is the opposite of what I plan to bring, Lynne." She responds, smiling as she brings her mirror to her hand.

"Then let us begin! Rosalia!"

"Come to me, Aura!"

* * *

"So about that plan of Gina's... that would mean two of us wouldn't have to fight, probably?" Valerie says, adjusting her glasses. I look over at her, having clearly enjoyed the intense training Gina and I put ourselves through, and wonder which role she would be least likely to screw up. Our group is myself, Corbin, her, Rory, and now Gina. The plan would pit three of ours against Lydia's group while the other two secure the Nests. She seems to detest the idea of fighting after being defeated, but would she make a particularly good persuader? Her desires are particularly more self-centered than ours.

"Not necessarily. Depending on the circumstances, if the Idol is accepted quickly you would be best served returning to the group and helping us fight." I say to her. She laughs, taking her off glasses for a moment to smile at me.

"It's not as if we needed to really do much of anything beyond offer a helping hand. Isn't that right, Gina?" She points at her. Gina giggles and lowers her sunglasses to grin back at her.

"Indeed, indeed, indeed!"

"And you're the only one who's yet to have a proper fight with them. So it seems obvious to me that you should lead the group that fights. Take Gina and Corbin with you, and let Rory and myself secure the Nests." Valerie says, putting her glasses back on. Based on the reports I was given about how Rory performed, he was hardly effective despite having several ways to instantly bring enemies down. I would much rather we all be at similar strength in battle, but that's not going to happen in time for the next Idol event.

"Very well. That's what we'll do, then. I can't see any better way to spread our forces, unless-"

"Stop. I sense several new presences in the valley. We must leave, now!" Gina interrupts me, but her words stop me from reprimanding her. I look towards where the Nests are and see vague-looking figures where there was nothing before.

 _If only we hadn't used up our energy just now! They are **right there!**_

Rosalia's words echo my own thoughts. Were they to notice us now, we would be ill-prepared to face them in battle. But this, this could also be an opportunity! We shouldn't squander the chance we've been given!

"Are you able to conceal our presence from their navigator?" I ask Gina, who was just about to call on her Persona to open a portal.

"Yes, I should be able to. But I can't turn us invisible, and we're too far away from anything to be unseen the normal way at our position. What are you thinking?"

"Leave. Come back to reset our position, monitor them while concealed."

"Ohoho! It looks like the entertainment hasn't ended just yet." Valerie says as she looks over towards the enemy group. Their navigator hasn't taken to the skies yet, which means we still have a moment before we're noticed.

"Okay. We'll do that. Aura, now!" From a burst of red flames, her other self came forth. Using her telescope as a focusing lens, she fired a green laser through it to tear open a portal for us to escape through.

And then in a few seconds, I go back to being what I was before, even if only for a moment.

I feel like I've been through a good workout when I return to my room. I look over at the time and see it's past 10. I know we had to have been in there for longer than half an hour, and that the valley accelerates the flow of time within it, but the exact rate at which it does so is never consistent. Sometimes it's twice as fast, whereas other times it's felt more like three times faster than the real world. This time, however, it looks like it was less than twice as fast. Even Rosalia is at a loss to explain it, saying that's just a peculiar characteristic we'd have to put up with.

But they have to be here for training, just like us. With Gina's analytical skills, we should be able to gather intel on them to help us when the next Idol event comes about.

 _We'll bring an end to them, just as we promised. And without them in our way, we'll be free to do our work!_

She giggles, clearly relishing the thought of killing Lydia and her friends. If we... if we did that, would they become ghosts, like the Rebel? Or was she the product of a very specific set of circumstances that we couldn't replicate because we're fully merged with our Idols in the valley? And either way, they'd be considered forever missing unless we... returned their bodies to the real world.

 _Feeling a little trepidation, huh? Well, don't you worry your pretty little head. Once it's over, we won't have to do it ever again! I mean, it's not like you can convince them to give it up, right? This is the only way to be sure that nothing and no one else stands in our way to success. Now come on! We can't keep Gina waiting._

The only way to be sure? I know I'm going to think hard about that one later. But she's right. I need to go.

How quickly my perspective changes when I find myself again in the valley.

"Okay, my veil's up. We won't be seen by the navigator, but I can't run like this and maintain it at the same time, so we have to move carefully." Gina says as I look upon the Nests that remained behind. They could be in any one of them right now.

"Are you able to tell where they are?" I ask her.

"Yes, but I can only scan for them with weak pulses every few seconds. If I try to maintain a bead on their position at all times, their eye in the sky will pick up on it. They're... in the skyscraper right now. Tell me where to go." She responds. Aura is very, very faintly visible behind her, helping to channel her energy in as discreet a manner as possible to keep the anti-scanning field up.

"I need more information. Are they coming or going?" Gina closes her eyes and tries to concentrate on her work.

"Going. It looks like they just went into the building's second floor."

"Okay. Now drop focus on them for a moment and tell me about the Shadows in this area. What are their activity levels?" As I talk to her, Valerie remains quiet, her expression somewhere between bored and intrigued. It's as if she's judging whether or not this is interesting to her.

"Warehouse is near zero. Skyscraper is more active than normal due to agitation. Stadium is normal. Museum is normal. Theater is normal."

"Okay. We're going to the warehouse. Let's move."

"Why there?" Valerie asks. We begin to walk towards the warehouse, a little slower than normal due to Gina having to maintain upkeep on her protective field.

"Two reasons. One: if they're training, they're not likely to go back to an area they've already cleared. Two: I mean to use the regenerating field of Shadow energy as a supplement to Gina's abilities so that she can use more of her power without being noticed."

"And do you think she's gonna be able to listen in on their conversations, or what? Can she do that?"

"I may be able to, actually. Lynne's right; I need to be able to boost my signal to the point where I can listen in on their conversations. You see, their navigator's all the way up in the skies. He requires a telepathic link in order to communicate with them, and that link can be intercepted just like any other wireless signal. But I haven't used my powers enough to have mastered them yet. Using the Shadows' inherent masking ability should be just the thing I need."

And so we made our way to the warehouse interior, where we waited for quite a while as Gina kept watch over our enemies. She could even perceive the navigator himself all the way in his sky bubble, but to actually pick up on their conversation would have to wait until they were between Nests, as the noise from other objects and activities would prevent her from doing so without being noticed. While I had little issue listening to her give us update after update about their location, movement patterns, and even power level to some extent, Valerie seemed about ready to look for the nearest Shadow and use it as her plaything.

"I _almost_ want to go back already. How much longer are these brats going to train?" She asks after Gina tells them they've reached the theater's most interior room.

"They've gone through every other Nest prior to this one. Unless they have some other reason for being here, they will likely be done once they've decided they're done with it." According to Gina, they had not quite went to the trouble of fully clearing out every Nest except the warehouse, due to its small size.

"Oh, my. What is _this?_ " Gina says, focusing intently.

"It's a... Aura is telling me this is a primitive Shadow Self? But isn't the original a Persona-user? Shouldn't she already be in tune with her Shadow Self? How can this also be one?"

 _You can think of it as a fail-safe. If the valley detects that an Idol was not accepted and that its Nest remains, it starts up a process that channels the energy of the Nest into creating a Shadow Self of its own that, given enough time and energy, will take on the exact appearance, personality, and strength of the intended ascension. But the problem is that the valley does not have nearly enough of both to complete it before our enemies go around destroying these barely developed Shadow Selves._

I explain what Rosalia just said to me to the others. Valerie looks almost astonished, though I suspect her reaction is more impressed than anything else.

"Damn, are we _sure_ this place itself isn't alive? What else does it have up its sleeve if it has backups like _that_?" She asks, grinning. Gina says,

"That's certainly some forward thinking. It's too bad it's so terribly inefficient. But Rosalia is certainly correct about the power level portion. Even as barely formed as it is, I can feel that the Shadow's power exceeds that of its original. But it's not powerful enough to bring down Lydia's whole group. Oh! Well, it's certainly trying. Double Mabufudyne there."

"If I could maybe _watch_ what you're seeing, that would be great." Valerie says, leaning over Gina who's been seated for what feels like the last several hours. Without opening her eyes or moving from her state of focus, she responds with,

"I already told you, I can't do that. I'm the only one who can see it. I doubt even a dedicated navigator like theirs could broadcast what he sees to other people. You have to remember that we're not like other Persona-users. Ours are capable of staying out for long periods of time, and that means they have to be very efficient on their energy usage. His Persona can't fight, so it's able to fully devote its power to navigation and scanning. Because mine _can,_ I have to pick one or the other to focus on at a time. And even then, he would be better at scanning than me if he was part of our team." At this, Valerie scoffs and says,

"You couldn't just say no?"

Once Gina reports that Lydia's group has defeated the primitive Shadow Self, she perks up and places her hands on the sides of her head near her ears, as if she was wearing headphones.

"There! Now that the noise has dissipated, I can now listen to their communications." She then repeats phrases she hears, likely paraphrasing or summarizing them since they don't quite form proper sentences.

"Shadows turning into quartz to be sold to the Velvet Room attendant... seeing a big windfall of cash from selling them..."

 _What is the Velvet Room?_

A question I wonder myself.

"She... disappeared? Lydia vanished! And the others are talking amongst themselves as if it's perfectly normal!"

"What? Are you sure she's gone? She didn't go through a portal back to the other world, did she?" I ask. Now _this_ is a new development.

"Yes, she's gone. I haven't detected any portals opening, either. Do you think that's where she disappeared to, this Velvet Room?"

"I don't know. Perhaps. Is there any trace energy you can pick up on? Something that might tell us about the nature of the teleportation?" Lydia has the unique ability of switching between several Personas. If she is the only one with access to this Velvet Room, then that could explain why she alone has the power. Whatever is in the Velvet Room may be the source of her power.

"No, I can't find anything. Wait. There she is again. Seriously, you could _blink_ and miss the instant she reappears. There is absolutely no tell that I can perceive that signifies her coming or going from there. It definitely does not feel like the kind of thing we could get into ourselves. I bet even if she has a key or something that allows her access, it likely would be useless to anyone else."

"Which means that trying to get in there ourselves would be a waste of time. Keep listening. Let's see if they discuss any of their plans for the upcoming week."

Gina nods, and continues to listen in.

"Stacks of cash, wondering why nobody asks them about it... the Rebel wants them to come back again for more training because she thinks bad things will happen when it rains here. And now looks like they're leaving. The Rebel tore open a portal for them. They're leaving one by one, and... Lydia is staying behind to talk to her. Can't lead two lives, she says. Rebel is now talking about us and you in particular, Lynne. She's worried about what you will do to them."

"As well they should be! If they thought she was terrifying already, wait until they see what she can do _now!_ " Valerie says, helping herself to a haughty laugh.

"Their navigator is gone. Switching to full scanning." Gina stands up and Aura manifests fully, her form now bright and visible.

"The Rebel wants to... throw dust in our eyes by using her power to jump in and out of the wind? Okay. That's funny." She says, chuckling to herself. Of course she would come up with a new way to annoy us. She knows she can't damage us and has the ability to evade any attack we throw at her, so she's utilizing those strengths to her advantage by giving Lydia and her colleagues tiny openings to deal with our strategy.

"That wisp should've just stayed dead. Without her, they can't even get out of this place." Valerie adds.

"And now Lydia has left. The Rebel is still present, apparently practicing exactly what she was talking about."

"Did you manage to glean anything extra about Lydia while you had your full scanning active?" I ask. Gina dispels her Persona and nods to me.

"Yes, although I'm not sure how much help it'll be considering how adaptable she is." She then tells me about the Persona she had at the forefront of her mind, a water-affiliated woman named Ophelia who is capable of enhancing others' abilities and healing them as well as fighting with Aqua spells.

"Ophelia? As in the woman who drowned herself from Hamlet? What does that say about the one who possesses her?" I voice my thoughts aloud.

"Rosalia is also water-based, isn't she?" Gina asks. She opens her mouth to say something else, but Rosalia herself bursts forth in red flames from my mirror to say something herself.

 _"I don't want to hear any nonsense about fate or coincidences. What matters is that she is my enemy, and that I mean to bring a slow, painful death to her after I've done so to all of her friends. She and her other self are the biggest obstacles between us and the world we seek to create. When we kill her, everything should be smooth sailing from there on."_

"I quite like your enthusiasm! It's too bad I won't get to see most of it." Valerie says to my other self, adjusting her glasses even though she doesn't need to. Rosalia briefly acknowledges her before disappearing back into my mirror. Gina comes up to me and says,

"I am _all_ for that. I'd rather have them out of the way so we can focus on what we were called to do. Then, when we've created our perfect world, we'll never have to worry for anything else ever again! It'll be paradise!" She says as she spreads her arms open. It really is nice to have someone whose dedication to the cause is clear and unwavering. The others, while they do their jobs, just don't quite have the same _spark_ that she does.

"We aren't there yet. We will be, but we must not lose our focus now. Those children will come to understand that they were wrong to oppose us, even if it means they must die to learn that lesson." The other two agree with me, and I reach for my mirror to call Rosalia to open a portal for us. Before I can call upon her, Gina reaches out and says,

"Wait. There's one last thing I want to ask: what _does_ happen when it rains here? Aura's words are too vague for me to understand - something about the realization of a new paradigm within the valley? Rosalia seems to know more than our Personas do, so I thought she might know."

As I was about to call upon her anyway, Rosalia comes forth and materializes beside me. She looks at each of us in turn when she says,

 _"What happens when it **rains?** Well, sorry I can't tell you much more than Aura did, but when it rains... it means we're going to have a lot more work to do. And it's going to turn the other world upside down."_

* * *

 **Original upload date: September 11, 2017**

 **A/N: To reiterate, this chapter _is canon_ to the rest of the story.**

 **RosyMiranto18 - Quartz most certainly does have a mass transit system, but it's not generally in the minds of most people, teenagers included, to utilize it if they have another option to get to where they need to go. I'm sure QIB will consider the increasing number of personal vehicles should they gain any more members. Also, I had this chapter primed before 50 was posted. I just wanted to space the updates out a little bit.**


	57. Chapter 51

**October 25, 2015 - Sunday, Morning - Rainy**

After she had eaten breakfast and came back to her room, Lydia was lying on her bed and looking up at a certain business card with a certain young man's name on it.

 _I wish I could forget all about this thing, but that's not going to happen. I don't know if Alvin is the type to bother me in person about why I haven't called, but I'd rather not take that chance. What am I going to **talk** **to him about?** I'll certainly demand an explanation, but then what? Are we just going to talk normally after that? He's totally going to ask me to the dance, isn't he? And then I haven't even decided on a date yet... and of course, no matter what I say or do, it's going to get back to the girls at school._

She sat up in her bed and reached for her phone. She unlocked it and opened the phone app, looking at the digital number pad with unease.

 _But I still have to know. No matter what anyone says, I still have to know what's going on with him. You don't just talk to a girl like that and not expect her to wonder about you._

And so she dialed the number and pressed the call button.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings, and then four.

The fifth ring was cut short suddenly, and then a voice on the other side said,

"Hello?"

It was most certainly Alvin. Lydia hesitated, realizing she hadn't thought about exactly what she would say to him.

"Hello?" He spoke again.

"H-hello, Alvin. This is... this is Lydia." She responded, very much aware of how shaky her voice sounded.

"Oh! Hello, hello! I had hoped you would call me. How are you doing this morning? Hopefully you managed to get out of the rain. It'd be dreadful to be soaked in this humidity, right?"

"I'm fine. I've... I haven't left the house all morning. I don't think I'm going to go anywhere today, so the rain isn't a- it's not- I'm going to be dry."

"Wonderful! So. I bet you have a _lot_ of questions right now, don't you?" There was a tiny moment of silence where Lydia expected him to keep going, but he didn't. She closed her eyes, got up off of her bed, and said to him,

"Yeah. And I don't even... I don't really know where to start. My biggest question is just... why? Why make it so dramatic? Why put a spotlight on me that I didn't ask for? Why couldn't you just have talked to me like a normal person?" A part of her was pleased that she had found the conviction in her voice again.

"Okay, well..." Alvin began.

"First of all, I'm sorry to have upset you so much. I hardly knew anything about you beyond what Carla told me, and the impression I had of you based on what she said was that you didn't care what other people thought of you and that you did your own thing regardless, that you were someone special. I figured because of that I could go all out on the introduction, which is something I've honestly been wanting to do for years. And given that people pay attention to me as much as they do, it was bound to get them talking. I had people asking me all day Friday about you.

For me, well, that's all jibber jabber. People are gonna talk. It's what they do. I was hoping you would reach out to me so we could get to know each other better, just like I said before, and here you are. And I know you've still got a lot to say to me, so... I'll stop talking and let you say what you want to say."

 _I don't know what I expected to happen. Lynne suggested that he might not be very understanding because of what he did, but... he sure doesn't **sound like** someone who's that kind of dumb. He's just... willing to take risks. He thought I might take it in stride, so that's why he did what he did. Oh. I need to say something._

"So people were bothering you too, huh? You didn't like the attention?"

"It's more that it's just noise to me most of the time. I've heard most of what they have to say to me already, so it's not something I give that much thought to. Yeah, I know I'm a good-looking guy who's never had a girlfriend. It's not strange that people would find that odd. I've had more than a couple girls tell me they like me, and I've had to let them all down because I wasn't into them that way. That led to the rumor being passed around school that I'm gay, which is... well, I think I can trust you with this. It's only half right. I'm into both guys and girls, but first and foremost I'm into the idea of having a serious and long-lasting relationship. That's why I've never been in one before."

 _Has he really never told anybody else this? I mean, sure, coming out as bi could ruffle some feathers, but he makes it sound like it's the wanting a long-term relationship that's the big secret, not the bisexuality. Why, though? Well, it's not like he's done anything I've expected him to do so far, so... okay._

"You never told anybody that before, about wanting a serious relationship? Not even the girls you turned down? Why?"

"How many people do you know talk about wanting to spend a lifetime with the person they love the most? Like, _seriously_ talk about it, not just gush over something they saw in a movie or read in a book? If you do know anybody like that, I'd bet you $100 they're not in high school. And I know I said people talking about me is mostly noise to me, but that doesn't mean I don't listen to it sometimes. Most people, they... they're not thinking about that. And the girls that liked me were all just... I don't know if this makes sense to you, but they didn't have that _depth_ I'm looking for. Super nice, every last one. Just... they weren't what I wanted."

 _I can't say anybody on QIB has ever talked about that. But it's not like we've ever asked each other, either. I mean, it sounds reasonable to assume we'd all want to be in those kinds of relationships, especially Jacob. And me... well, I... no. This isn't about me._

"I think I might know someone who goes to our school who would say something similar to that."

"You do? Well, that's pretty impressive. But I hope you get where I'm coming from better now. And just so we're clear, I'm not asking you to be my girlfriend. Not just yet."

"Let me guess. You want to ask me out on a date? So you can... get to know me better?"

"You could _call it_ _a date,_ if you wanted to. It depends on what you would want to do. I mean, you'd be getting to know me too. Are you the kind of girl that wants her guy to take her places and be surprised by what he comes up with? The kind of girl that already has all these ideas of where she'd go on dates? Or maybe you'd just want to go on a walk through the autumn air and then go get some coffee as friends without making a big fuss over the whole dating thing? I don't know any of that about you. So tell me. What do you want to do?"

Before Lydia could begin to think about her answer, Alvin chimed in again.

"Don't worry about giving me an answer right now. From what little I do know about you, I can tell you're the type that looks before she leaps. You're... an _introverted_ person _._ It means that dealing with people tires you out after too long, and that you don't mind being by yourself and being in your own head for a while. Do I have that right?"

 _I guess he'd know about that from all the girls he's had to turn down before. They probably weren't all the same kind of person. But there is one thing he definitely does not know, and that's... well, he doesn't seem like the type to take rejection **too** hard. I hope._

"Yeah. But I don't have to think too much about my answer. For reasons I don't want to explain, I'm not interested in being anybody's girlfriend right now. You are... I can't say I've ever met anyone quite like you before. You're really, really into this in a way that no one else our age is. And while I still wish you would've introduced yourself to me without the fanfare, I get why you did it now. I'd like to hang out sometime, just as friends. That's my answer."

Lydia could hear him let out a breath filled with disappointment. There were a few seconds of tense silence before she heard him again.

"Well, I have to be honest. I was really hoping you'd consider the idea of being more than friends someday, but your answer's clear. You don't want anything more, for whatever reasons you have. And while I wish it was different, I have to respect that. But I'm glad you still want to be friends. I guess I'm not too crazy after all."

There was the sound of shattering glass again as time slowed to a crawl. In front of her, Lydia could see yet another tarot card appear. This one was probably the least surprising one yet - a picture of a tree with a huge heart in its pink leaves, with a man shrouded in purple standing to its left and a woman shrouded in magenta standing to its right, and the roman numeral for six printed at the bottom.

 ** **Thou art I... and I am thou...****

 ** **Thou hast established a new bond...****

 ** **In thee, the Beholder's sight grows ever clearer...****

 ** **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Lovers Arcana...****

 _He might as well have this pinned to his head for how much it fits him. I can't imagine any other Arcana would be as suitable to describe him!_

"Oh, you're definitely crazy. But it seems like you're not the _bad kind_ of crazy. You're just... a guy who goes by his own rhythm."

He chuckled. It was a pleasant sound, one that widened the smile on Lydia's face.

"And I hope it's a rhythm that doesn't make everybody want to throw tomatoes at me." There was a couple of seconds before Alvin spoke again.

"Oh. I should ask this too. Do you... already have a date to the dance this coming week?"

 _And there it is. Nathan's offer is still on the table for me. He'd be the safe pick. I still haven't heard about who Damien's taking, and I know Jacob isn't going to take anybody. There is still a chance that the next time we have to go into the valley will be during the dance, but it might not happen that way. Do I want to have a guy like this as my date? Or not?_

"No, I don't." Lydia spoke.

"Would it be okay if I asked you to be mine?"

 _Is that... a double meaning? He knows what he said, right? Oh, stop. He just said he was okay with being friends. I should at least give him some credit._

"You can definitely ask, but... well, I still haven't decided yet. You aren't the only one to have asked me."

"I'm not surprised. It wouldn't be anything romantic if we went together. We'd just be two friends who happened to bring their own dance partners. Anyways, let me know when you choose. I'll pay for our tickets if you pick me." He said, his voice singsong at the end. Lydia chuckled, which prompted him to ask,

"What? Would you rather go Dutch?"

"No, it's just... never mind." Lydia responded, still giggling. Money was most certainly not a concern for her or for anybody on QIB, but she knew he was simply offering out of courtesy.

"Okay then. Well, I'd love to dance with you, so I hope I'm the one you choose. Huh? Yeah, what is it? I'm..." His voice trailed off as something seemed to happen in the background where he was. Lydia couldn't make out exactly what was being said, but it sounded like he was talking to someone else that perhaps had walked into the room. He was busy for a whole minute before he returned to the phone.

"Sorry about that. I've gotta go now. We'll talk to each other another time, alright?"

"Okay. What's going on?"

"Gotta have a talk with somebody. Listen, though, before I go, I just want to tell you that if the rumors get to be too much for you, come tell me. I'll do what I can to shut people up if I have to."

"Alright."

"Okay. See you later. Goodbye."

"Bye."

And when he hung up, Lydia looked over towards her window. She had closed the curtains last night, but right now she felt an urge to look outside the window and watch the raindrops fall. She went over, parted them, and took in the simplicity of nature without saying or thinking a word.

* * *

 **October 26, 2015 - Monday, Early Morning - Rainy**

It was going to be down to the two of them, and she still couldn't decide between them. Each of the girls from QIB that she went to school with had their own opinion about what had taken place between her and Alvin the other day, but the consensus between them was that if the worst were to happen and someone was taken into the valley during the dance, it would almost certainly lead to Alvin finding out about QIB. Thankfully, to Lydia he seemed trustworthy enough to hold onto that particular secret, but it would involve yet another person in the mix and the group wasn't quite keen on letting any more people know that didn't have to know.

When Lydia walked through her usual entrance, she had been wondering whether or not Alvin would show himself again. She was relieved to see that he was nowhere to be found, having taken the unspoken hint that he would probably just cause more trouble if he hung around the rest of her friends right now.

"Good morning, Lydia!" Morgan greeted her, waving.

"Good morning. How are you?"

"I'm doing fine. What about you?"

"I'm okay. It's nice that the weather's started to cool down a little."

"Uh huh! Autumn's my favorite season. If I could, I'd make it so that it lasts six months out of the whole year. Spring would last three months, winter would last two, and summer just one." Morgan said, turning her head to address the rest of the group, who had previously been on their phones. Damien put his hands behind his head and said,

"Just one month of summer? Really? What do you got against summer vacation, huh?"

"It's too hot here in the summer. And vacation would still be two months. It'd just be one month of spring and then one month of summer. We'd go back to school around when fall starts."

"So uh... you said six months, right? What about Christmas? Wouldn't it not be in winter that way? That'd be pretty weird." Nathan said, which prompted Morgan to cross her arms and pout.

"Well, then we'd just have to go back to school in late June then. Push summer back to May instead. And Christmas barely counts as winter, you know. It's like, three or four days after winter officially starts."

"I mean, I'm just saying. It's supposed to be cold, and it doesn't get _that cold_ during fall. I actually like your idea, Morgan. Uh, though personally I'd take a little bit more summer and a little bit less spring myself." Nathan said.

"I like the cold. You can always put on more clothes when it gets cold. You can... only do so much when it gets hot." Nori said, looking thoughtfully at the doors.

"I think you'd have to move to the Midwest or something if you wanted to see all four seasons. I mean, for real." Jacob said. He continued.

"In this part of Texas, we have pretty warm winters compared to the rest of the country. It's not like Florida or something where winter practically doesn't exist, but we don't really get a lot of snow here at all. It's more ice."

"I wouldn't complain if it was cooler overall here. I bet it'd cut down on electricity bills if people didn't still have to run their air conditioners this late into the year." Allie said.

"What do you think, Lydia? More fall weather, yay or nay?" Morgan asked, swaying back and forth in her chair.

"I think I'd like it better if each season was around for an equal length of time, kind of like what Jacob was talking about. It was more like that back in Crystal Rapids. Here, it's... well, Allie has a point about still having to use the A/C." Lydia answered.

"Aw, okay. Yeah, I've never actually been out of Texas before. Or I guess, out of my little corner of it. I guess that means I don't know what it's like to live in a place where, like Jacob said, there's all four seasons for real." Morgan said, shrugging.

The group kept talking amongst themselves until they had to part ways for their morning classes. Lydia wasn't sure if they would bring up Alvin at all, but a part of her was glad they didn't. After all, she'd already talked to the girls about him. The guys also had their own opinions, but she hadn't spoken to any of them about what had happened. She busied herself with her thoughts as she went into Mr. Marshall's room and took her seat.

 _They all felt pretty differently about him. Damien almost seemed offended, Jacob looked shocked, and Nathan was actually impressed. I know Nathan wouldn't mind if I didn't choose him. I wonder what he **would** say if I told him about my conversation with Alvin yesterday._

 **Monday, Evening - Cloudy**

"Hello?" Nathan said as he answered Lydia's call. She laid on her bed and stared at the ceiling as she spoke to him.

"Hey. What are you up to right now?"

"Watching some wrestling on TV. What about you?"

"Nothing, really. I just... want to talk to you about something."

"Yeah? What's up?"

"I... actually called back Alvin the other day and talked to him. Turns out he's really serious about looking for a relationship with someone." There was a burst of noise from the television on Nathan's side before he responded.

"Sorry, I gotta turn that down. What'd you say? You talked to Alvin? That dude that gave you his card last week? Damn, what was _that_ like?"

"He's... pretty serious about looking for a serious relationship. He heard about me from Carla and then figured he'd 'go all out on the introduction'. That's what he said about it. I told him I didn't really like that, and then we talked for a bit about why he went and did that. Basically, he took the impression he got of me from her and then took a risk that didn't work out. He then asked me if I'd date him or consider being his girlfriend and I told him no. Oh, he also asked me to the dance."

"I'm surprised he didn't do it in front of all of us. Wish I could be half as slick as someone like him." Nathan responded. He straightened himself up in his chair and continued, saying,

"You probably told him no, right? You don't sound like you like him too much."

"Well... would it surprise you if I told him I wasn't sure yet?" Another burst of noise came from Nathan's TV, but it was softer than before. Lydia didn't watch wrestling, but she was aware from Gerald occasionally talking about it that the wrestling shown on TV was largely scripted and more like an action show than a sports competition.

"Wait, so you might actually go with him? Huh, really? I guess that charm of his actually works. I wonder if he'd teach me his secrets..." Nathan said, briefly letting his mind wander.

"I _am_ seriously thinking about it. It wouldn't be anything romantic, though. We'd just be friends having a good time. But the biggest issue with taking him to the dance is the you-know-what that's probably going to happen at the end of this week."

"Oh, yeah. Damn, that's really gonna suck if it happens when we're at the dance. How would we even start to deal with that?"

"Yeah, we'd already be in trouble without having someone outside of our group like him inevitably ask what's going on. But we don't know for sure that it's going to happen _then._ Ugh, I hate having to act like it is, like it's a sure thing that it's going to happen at the worst possible time."

"You got that right. And damn, I mean... like, all I gotta do is shower, comb my hair, spray some cologne, and wear some nice clothes I got in one of my drawers. Can't imagine what it's like for girls. You gotta got your hair done, nails, have to spend a ton of money on a nice dress- uh, not that money is a problem for the QIB girls, but I'm just saying- and then the makeup and all that, just to have to mess it all up to go fight an Idol?"

"Yeah. That's why we're _really_ hoping it happens _before_ the dance, like a couple of days before. After would also be okay, I guess, but then we'd spend the whole dance on edge waiting for it to happen. All the other times it's happened haven't really messed up our normal lives, but this time it could actually do that and it's making me frustrated."

Nathan sighed and cleared his throat. As he watched one of the wrestlers on TV execute a finishing move on his opponent, he tried to think of something to say that could soothe Lydia's worries.

"I hear you. It'd be nice if we could just leap in there, call out whoever's responsible for all of it, and beat the living tar out of them. Just get it over with so we can go back to being normal people."

"Call them out and have one big, final confrontation, huh? I guess they wouldn't be the type that we could talk them out of it. Yeah. I... I'm pretty sure we couldn't do that." Lydia said. Nathan was unsure of what to say next, and watched the discussion on TV between the presenters about the upcoming match.

"I mean, if it was that easy, Sycophanta wouldn't have threatened to take us out if we kept fighting the Idols. And, uh, to be honest, I got no clue what I'd say to them if there was something you _could_ say to get them to stop, whether it's Sycophanta or whoever's really behind it." He ended up saying. Lydia sighed.

"I know. Um, we kind of drifted away from what we were talking about before."

"Oh, yeah. So... what are you gonna do about Alvin?"

"Hmmm..." Lydia said, still unsure. Nathan shifted in his chair and switched his phone to his other ear.

"If I were you, I'd go for it. I mean, I'm not gonna be mad or anything if you go with him. I'm not gonna say I know what you're really thinking, but I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and guess you actually want to. And if you do, just say 'screw you' to the Idols and take him anyway! I get you want to be as careful as possible. But... we can't let them push us around. We gotta _live_ our lives, right? Both of them. Does uh, does that make sense?"

 _He's got a point. The more we let the Idols dictate what we do, the more control they'll end up having over us. And... well, if Alvin is going to be there regardless if he's going with me or not, he'd probably end up asking what happened either way._

"Yeah, I think it does. Thanks, Nathan. I think you helped me clear that up."

"No problem. Glad I could help."

Once she had finished talking to him, she reached for Alvin's card and looked at it again. She wasn't going to talk to him tonight, but she found herself feeling more and more certain that she'd come to a decision.

 _Why am I doing this? Well... because I wanted to have an exciting date, right? And honestly, it's not like I had a lot of choices this close to the dance. Now that I think about it, if Nathan hadn't offered, I would've been in a really tight spot. But whatever. That doesn't matter now. Looks like Mr. Alvin Edward Ross is going to be my date to the homecoming dance._

* * *

 **Original upload date: October 30, 2017**

 **A/N: Getting closer and closer to that fated date. Or dates, I guess.**

 **RosyMiranto18 - It's gonna be a long week for QIB - you've certainly got that one right.**

 **Maronmario - Thanks for reading it all the way through. I hope I can continue to make the story entertaining for you and for everyone else that's managed to get this far.**


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